LA Still Has Worst Ozone Pollution In America

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – It's not a distinction to take pride in: Los Angeles continues to have the worst ozone pollution of any metropolitan area in the United States.

A new annual report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association found that L.A-Long Beach was ranked No. 1 out of 227 metropolitan areas for its number of high ozone days, garnering an "F" grade from the ALA.

This is the twentieth year of the "State of the Air" report, and L.A. has placed No. 1 for ozone pollution in 19 of them.

L.A. also ranked No. 5 for both short-term and annual particle pollution. Particle pollution is a measure of the amount of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air.

The top six spots on the ozone pollution rankings were all taken by California cities. Visalia came in second, followed by Bakersfield third, Fresno fourth, Sacramento fifth and San Diego in sixth.

Anchorage, Ala., was the cleanest city in the U.S. for ozone pollution.

The report is based on data from 2015 to 2017 collected from county, state and federal agencies across the U.S.

Under the EPA's air quality index, L.A. registered 209 days from 2015 and 2017 that had ozone levels unhealthy for sensitive groups, 83 days that were considered unhealthy, and 12 days that were considered very unhealthy.

Those three years are warmest on record in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. On the whole, ozone pollution increased across the nation in the latest ALA report, and the heat played a role in that increase.

A study released in February found that L.A. County residents are exposed to 60 percent more vehicle pollution than the state average and 250 percent more than residents of the Bay Area

To read the ALA's full report, click here.