State of the Air 2011: Seattle More Polluted than Chicago, Less than Portland
Seattle's neighborhoods may not be particularly diverse (except maybe for this one), but the skies above sure are. They're populated with all kinds of stuff--much of it potentially harmful.
The American Lung Association released its "State of the Air" report for 2011, and while the Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia region certainly isn't the most polluted, it's not sitting particularly pretty. Listed at number 18 for Short-Term Particle Pollution, the area is also being ranked 120th (out of 220 metro areas) for ozone pollution, which affects public health in the summertime.
According to the ALA's press release, the Puget Sound Clean Air Energy Agency is doing what anyone in this stinky situation would do--blaming Tacoma. From the release, a quotation from Executive Director Craig Kenworthy:
“Our ranking is driven largely by the challenges we face in the Tacoma-Pierce County area, which has been designated as violating clean air standards for fine particle pollution by the Environmental Protection Agency,” said Kenworthy. “This area experiences poor air quality in the wintertime when temperatures drop and more people heat their homes by burning wood. We need to help people heat their homes in cleaner ways. And we need people to know that fireplaces pull the heat out of your house and put high levels of pollution in the air."
The cleanest cities listed? Honolulu, Corpus Christi, and Cheyenne. Portland was ranked 24th most polluted in the same category as Seattle, while Chicago was only one place higher, at 17.
