The American Lung Associationrecently released its yearly “State of the Air” report – and though none of South Florida’s cities are among the 25 most polluted, air quality has decreased in some of the region’s metros.
The report analyzes data from 2022 through 2024 to grade counties onunhealthy levelsof ozone and particle pollution, perhaps better understood assmog and soot, respectively. In the Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale metro area, the air quality declined slightly, exposing residents to more unhealthy ozone pollution. The region ranked as the 132nd worst out of 226 metropolitan areas for high ozone, 110th worst out of 224 areas for 24-hour particle pollution and 57th worst out of 211 areas for annual particle pollution.
“Clean air is essential to the health and well-being of families across Florida. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” Ashley Lyerly, senior director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, said in a press release.
Collectively, 152 million people of all ages in the U.S., or about 44%, live in counties that have received a failing grade on at least one air pollution measure.
“Clean air takes work. Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rollbacks of critical healthy air rules are impacting our residents. We urge Florida’s policymakers to take action to improve our air quality, and we are calling on everyone to tell EPA that our kids’ health counts.”
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The air quality monitoring network in Florida is limited, according to the report – if there’s no monitor present in a county, no data for it will be available. In Florida, 35 of 67 counties could be graded on at least one air quality measure, according tothe ALA's report card.
See the high ozone days of 35 out of 67 Florida counties
Grade, Average Weight of Air
Hillsborough
Indian River
See particle pollution rankings for 16 out of 67 Florida counties
Grade, Average Weight of Air
Hillsborough
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How does bad air quality impact our health?
The report found that 32.9 million people live in counties that received failing grades on all three measures.
As for what that means for their health – the ALA says its years of scientific research have shown thatparticle pollution and ozone are a threatto human health at every stage of life. Some of the major respiratory symptoms of air pollution include wheezing and coughing, shortness of breath, asthma attacks, worsening COPD and lung cancer.
Sarah Perkel is a South Florida Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network's Florida Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter,Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:South Florida had fairly clean air, American Lung Association reports
