EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
UNTIL APRIL 29, 2009 - 3:00 A.M. EDT
Contacts: Deborah Brown, VP, Community Outreach and Advocacy
610-563-6992 (cell) or dbrown@lunginfo.org
Kevin Stewart, Director of Environmental Health
717-541-5864 x56 or 717-330-1790 (cell) or kstewart@lunginfo.org
10th ANNUAL STATE OF THE AIR REPORT ESTIMATES 10.8 MILLION PA RESIDENTS
(6 OUT OF 7) AT RISK FROM AIR POLLUTION
Despite Progress, Pittsburgh-New Castle Retains #1 National Rank for Daily Particle Pollution
Levels, According to Most Recent EPA-confirmed Data
Editors’ Note: Multimedia toolkit including broadcast quality b-roll, photographs and soundbites
available at: www.lungusa.mediaseed.tv/Home.aspx. Local city and county air quality grades
available at www.stateoftheair.org.
Harrisburg, PA – Nearly 11 million Pennsylvanians live in counties or metropolitan areas that
received failing grades in the American Lung Association’s tenth annual State of the Air report,
released today. The report ranks cities most affected by three types of widespread and dangerous
pollution: short-term (24-hour) particle pollution, year-round particle pollution and ozone
pollution. Counties are graded “A” through “F” for each category when sufficient validated records
exist over the three-year period 2005 through 2007. Science shows that the air quality in counties
earning “F’s” is dirty enough to endanger lives.
“Taking decisive action to clean our air must be a top public health priority,” said Deborah Brown,
Vice President of Community Outreach and Advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Our
failing grades mean that the health and lives of six out of seven Pennsylvanians are at risk. Now is
the time to step up our response to dirty air pollution sources such as poorly controlled fossilfueled power plants and diesel engines. Individuals can also do their part by driving less, avoiding
burning wood or trash, cutting back on electricity use, and encouraging schools to use cleaner
buses and to reduce idling.”
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For the third straight year, Philadelphia County ranked as worst in the state for ozone
smog, with the multi-state Philadelphia metro area coming in at number 16 on the
American Lung Association’s list of the country’s “Most Ozone-Polluted Cities.”
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And for the second year, despite distinct improvements, the Pittsburgh-New Castle metro
area again ranked worst in the nation on the list of “U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Short-term
Particle Pollution,” and second worst on the “Year-Round Particle Pollution” list. Allegheny
County has ranked consistently worst in the state for particle pollution since the American
Lung Association first included it in its State of the Air report in 2004.
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Out of only thirty-seven counties nationwide failing all three air pollution measures in the
report, Pennsylvania claimed six – Allegheny, Beaver, Lancaster, Washington,
Westmoreland, and York, accounting for nearly three million people.
Even though some progress is made, new ozone standard is tougher test, means poorer marks
While ozone levels, measured in absolute terms, have dropped dramatically over the past few
report years, the standard that was in use since 1997 had been shown to be inadequate to protect
public health. As a result, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted a somewhat
more protective standard for ozone in 2008, and this year’s report is the first in which the
American Lung Association adopts the new standard.
This is why grades appear to have changed so significantly. Compared with twenty-three counties
with passing grades and eight counties with “F’s” in the 2008 report, in contrast, this year’s report
posts twenty-eight counties with “F’s,” and only four (Blair, Cambria, Franklin, and Lawrence) with
passing grades (all “D’s”). For counties with monitors, the annual number of “bad air” days for
ozone ranges between 2 and 21, with an average registering in the neighborhood of ten per year.
“The new smog standard recognizes that even lower levels of ozone can be much more dangerous
than previously thought,” explained Brown. “It means that there’s even more urgency to start
now to clean up the sources.”
Pennsylvanians at risk
The report presents some staggering statistics for Pennsylvania, estimating that residents who are
most at risk of breathing dangerous levels of air pollution include:
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2,440,000 children and 1,620,000 seniors,
220,000 children and 780,000 adults with asthma,
290,000 with chronic bronchitis and 150,000 with emphysema,
3,200,000 with cardiovascular disease, and
700,000 with diabetes.
“This report should be a wake-up call, that we can no longer consider air pollution a nuisance but
rather a major threat to health right here in Pennsylvania,” stated John Rutkowski, Chair of the
Board of Directors of the American Lung Association. “When we and our families are left
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breathing air dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, to affect how kids’ lungs
develop and to kill, air pollution remains a serious problem that must be addressed.”
Pennsylvania remains stubborn problem area, but improvements in particle pollution beginning
to show up
On the one hand, in this year’s report, eighteen of twenty-one graded counties posted “F’s” for
short-term levels of particle pollution, a statistic that was unchanged from 2008, and
insignificantly changed from the year before that. The three counties with passing grades – as well
as their grades – were also unchanged from the 2008 report (Bucks “D”, Chester “C”, and
Montgomery “C”).
Even more troubling, five Pennsylvania metro areas appeared on one or both of the lists of “U.S.
Cities Most Polluted by Particle Pollution”: In addition to Pittsburgh-New Castle, which appeared
among the very worst on both lists, York-Hanover-Gettysburg ranked 20th worst, and Lancaster
22nd worst on the “Year-Round Particle Pollution” list, while the multi-state Philadelphia metro
area came in at 20th worst, and Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle took the 24th worst spot on the
“Short-term Particle Pollution” list.
But on the other hand, nine out of the twenty-one counties graded for short-term particle
pollution posted a number of “bad air” days that was the best (or tied for the best) for those
counties for the past three report years. Even better, thirteen of the seventeen Pennsylvania
counties graded for year-round particle pollution recorded their best levels since the State of the Air
report began covering particle pollution in 2004 – a finding that extends to the three Pennsylvania
spots on the “Cities Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution” list.
Pennsylvanians can protect themselves and their families from air pollution.
“The American Lung Association produced the State of the Air: 2009 report to educate all
Americans about air quality in their communities,” said Kevin Stewart, Director of Environmental
Health for the American Lung Association in Pennsylvania. “But it can’t stop there. We all must
fight to help the Clean Air Act fulfill its promise to protect Americans from dangerous levels of air
pollution. Air quality standards for both ozone and particle pollution should be strengthened, the
air monitor infrastructure must be improved, and the laws must be enforced with certainty. After
all, air pollution kills people, it lands them in emergency rooms, and it can make children and teens
more vulnerable to lung disease for the rest of their lives.”
To minimize exposure to ozone and particle pollution, the American Lung Association in
Pennsylvania recommends:
 Check local air quality forecasts. Find these by going to www.aqpartners.state.pa.us or
www.epa.gov/airnow.
 Avoid exercising near high-traffic areas.
 Avoid exercising outdoors when pollution levels are high or substitute an activity that
requires less exertion.
 Don’t smoke indoors and support measures to make all places smokefree.
 Reduce or eliminate the practice of burning trash or wood.
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STATE OF THE AIR OVERVIEW
The Pollutants
 Ozone, a form of oxygen, shields the skin from cancer-causing sunlight, but it wreaks havoc
with the respiratory system. A gas, ozone is a powerful irritant that sears the smallest
airways of the lungs, causing health problems such as coughing, wheezing, chest pain,
increased susceptibility to lung infections, and asthma attacks. More than this, however,
studies over the past five years have convincingly shown that ozone can also be deadly,
both for people with lung disease, as well as for those with cardiovascular disease. Ozone
forms when pollutants from fuel-burning sources such as motor vehicles, factories and
power plants react in the presence of heat and sunlight.
 Particulate pollution (also known as “fine particle pollution”) is the most dangerous and
deadly of the outdoor air pollutants that are widespread in America. It is a toxic mix of
microscopic bits of ash, soot, diesel exhaust, chemicals, metals and aerosols. Peaks or
spikes in particle pollution can last for hours or days. Deaths can occur promptly or may be
delayed by a month or more. These minute particles bypass the body’s natural defenses
and can be breathed easily into the deepest parts of the lungs. Breathing in particle
pollution can also increase the risk of asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer
and emergency room visits for asthma and cardiovascular disease. Particle pollution also
adversely affects how children’s lungs grow and function.
Statistics
 This is the tenth consecutive year the American Lung Association has produced the State of
the Air report. For the 2009 edition, grades and rankings were calculated using air
pollution data from 2005 through 2007. These data were collected by state and local air
pollution control agencies, were reviewed by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and were validated for use.
 The national State of the Air report finds that 6 out of 10 Americans --186.1 million people - live in areas where air pollution levels endanger lives. State of the Air 2009 acknowledges
substantial progress against air pollution in many areas of the country, but finds nearly
every major city still burdened by air pollution. Despite America’s growing “green”
movement, the air in many cities became dirtier.
For More Information
 For more information on your community’s grades in the State of the Air: 2009 report, go
to: www.lungusa.org or www.stateoftheair.org . You can send a message to Congress and
Administration officials about taking action to protect the air we breathe at
www.lungaction.org.
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