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Pollution Lower in Los Angeles, Still A Lot of Work To Do

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Downtown Los AngelesNew research from the University of Colorado, Boulder, found that pollution in Los Angeles has decreased since the 1960s, despite the three-fold increase in population and, therefore, vehicles over the same time period.

Llana Pollak, lead author of the study and scientist at the NOAA Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, said in a press release: “Our study shows exactly how that happened, and confirms that California’s policies to control emissions have worked as intended.”

Among the study’s findings was a decrease in organic peroxyacetyl nitrate in the air—the element responsible for that eye-stinging sensation. There’s also less ozone pollution.

“The emission reductions have ‘flipped’ some of the chemistry that takes place in the atmosphere,” Pollack said. “The relevant precursors in the atmosphere now favor chemical pathways that are more likely to produce nitric acid, and less likely to make ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN).”

Though this is good news, California (and the U.S.)  still has a lot of work to do.

According to a study conducted by the American Lung Association (ALA), which was released earlier this year, California had five cities in the top 11 worst air polluted cities. Bakersfield was number one, followed by Visalia (at number 2), Los Angeles (at number 3), Hanford (at number 5) and Modesto (at number 10).

Bakersfield, however, has a much different pollution problem than Los Angeles. Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley stirs up pesticide- and fertilizer-laden dust that fills the air with fine particles.

But Los Angeles still ranks number one in Ozone-Pollution, according to ALA, followed by six other California cities.

According to the report, ozone and particle pollution dominate the U.S. “Thanks to the Clean Air Act, the U.S. has far less of both pollutants now than in the past,” the report says. “Still, nearly 132 million people live in counties where monitors show unhealthy levels of one or both.”  That boils down to every four out of 10 people in the U.S. live in unhealthy air.

People most in danger from pollution, according to ALA, are those with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.


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