Three North Carolina cities have some of the cleanest air in the US, report finds

Simone Jasper
·3 min read
6

Three North Carolina destinations boast some of the cleanest air in the United States, a new report finds.

Asheville joins Greenville and Wilmington on a list of metro areas that have the lowest air pollution levels, according to results published April 19.

To create the list, the American Lung Association said it considered 922 counties with available data. Using figures from air quality monitors across the country, analysts considered ozone pollution — also called smog — as well as short-term and year-round particle pollution, which consists of smoke, dust or other tiny specks in the air.

“A city must experience no high ozone or particle pollution days and rank among the 25 cities with the lowest year-round particle pollution levels,” the lung association wrote in a news release, noting that only seven places in the United States met the criteria to be named the “Cleanest Cities.”

About one-third of North Carolina’s 100 counties had enough data to be graded in at least one air quality category.

Of those, most got A grades for ozone pollution, while the Charlotte-area counties of Union and Mecklenburg received a C and an F, respectively. Several counties also scored top marks for particle pollution, though Forsyth — home to Winston-Salem — and Mecklenburg earned Cs in that category, results show.

“As we can see from this year’s report data, there is much work to be done in Charlotte to improve our air quality,” Danna Thompson, the organization’s director for advocacy for North Carolina, wrote in a release. “Even one poor air quality day is one too many for our residents at highest risk, such as children, older adults, pregnant people and those living with chronic disease.”

Meanwhile, Asheville and Greenville are newcomers to the “Cleanest Cities” list, and Wilmington has received the honor before. Though the Wilmington area ranks low for air pollution, it sits on the Cape Fear River, which is known for high levels of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which have unknown health effects in people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On the most recent list, North Carolina was the only state to have multiple places in the top seven cleanest metros. When asked for insight into why the state was home to three areas with the least pollution, the American Lung Association told McClatchy News in an email that the answer was beyond the scope of its report.

Overall, many of the cities that were named the worst for air pollution were in California. The the rest of the top seven cleanest metros — which weren’t listed in ranking order — included:

  • Bangor, Maine

  • Lincoln-Beatrice, Nebraska

  • Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, New York

  • Urban Honolulu, Hawaii

Despite efforts to reduce ozone pollution, “120 million people still live in places with unhealthy air pollution, and not all communities are seeing improvements. This is why it is crucial to continue our efforts to ensure that every person in the U.S. has clean air to breathe,” wrote Harold Wimmer, national president and CEO of the lung association.

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