Data: Grand Rapids region has worst air quality in Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The American Lung Association published its annual “State of the Air” report this month, which found the Grand Rapids/Muskegon region to have the worst air quality in the state.
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The report collects data across three years and averages the year-round particle pollution grade, ozone grade and short-term spikes in particle pollution. Kent and Muskegon counties received failing grades for pollution levels above the standards issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“We definitely see some counties located along the Lake Michigan shoreline, which the county itself may be a more rural county and yet they end up with some higher air pollution levels,” Ken Fletcher, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, told News 8. “In a lot of cases it’s the pollution that drifts up, whether it’s coming from Chicago or Gary, Indiana, or some of the other industrial areas that definitely can have an impact on areas in West Michigan.”
Historically, freeways, major thoroughfares and industrial plants have been built in the most vulnerable communities.
“Black, brown, BIPOC, underserved communities are always most disproportionately impacted when it comes to environmental concerns,” said Kareem Scales with Scales Consulting.
Scales works with Community Collaboration on Climate Change, or C4, to educate residents in the 49507 zip code. Over the past year, C4 along with Just Air has installed seven air sensors within that neighborhood to get real-time data on air quality.
“Ozone is created. It is a chemical reaction that’s created when pollution meets heat,” Just Air project manager Nate Rauh-Bieri told News 8. “Two things that we have too much of, and when it’s combined it can really impact someone’s health.”
Grand Rapids’ air quality has improved over the past 25 years, but Fletcher says there is more that needs to be done. Individuals can opt to walk, bike or use public transportation while cities can transition to zero-emission vehicles.
READ: The American Lung Association’s 2024 ‘State of the Air’
Rauh-Bieri says more tree coverage will also help.
“We know from our story of the seven monitors in the zip code that the monitors closest to green space, closest to dense, urban tree canopy, have lower average air quality index readings, which means healthier air,” he said.
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