EPA press release on WTC cleaning hotline launch, June 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Study finds half of Americans breathing r fluted air »!•

fl 142 million live in often their air quality reached clean air standards, some dating “unhealthfur’ levels of air pollu­ back to 1979. : cities with high tion. “More protective ozone stan­ levels of smog The areas with the worst pollu­ dards effectively have been ’on tion were Los Angeles-Riverside- hold’ due to challenges by indus­ Orange County, Calif.; Bakers­ try,” John Kirkwood, president BY STEPHANIE GASKELL field, Calif.: Fresno. Calif.; Visalia- and CEO of the American Lung A^OCIATED PRESS Tulare-Porterville, Calif.; Hous- Association, said in a news re­ ' ton-Galveston-Brazoria, Texas; lease. “Somehow, industry be­ Half the country’s population is Atlanta; Merced, Calif.; Knoxville. lieves it needs to continue to pol­ breathing unhealthy amounts of Tenn.; Charlotte-Gastonia, N.C.; lute. They have fought every step air pollution, according to a sur­ Rock Hill, S.C.; and Sacramento- we’ve taken toward cleaner air vey released today by the Ameri­ Yolo. Calif. for ail Americans.” can Lung Association. The group also named several “The areas we’re talking about cities that had relatively clean air: The findings, part of the group’s represent some of the most Bellingham, Wash.; Colorado annual “State of the Air” report, densely populated areas in the Springs, Colo.; Duluth, Minn.; Su- show that more than 142 million country so naturally we’re going p^ior, Wis.; Fargo, ND., Moor­ Americans live in cities with high to have more people affected in head, Minn.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Ho­ levels of smog. those areas,” said Janice Nolen, nolulu, Hawaii; Laredo, Texas; The report examines ozone air of national poli^ for the Lincoln, Neb.; McAllen-Edinburg- quality data for the period be- American Lung Association “But Mission, Texas; Salinas, Calif.; and tween 1998 and 2900 taten by the ^reas, it may .te fiungs Spokane, Wash. U.S. Environmental Proteaion fe power fdants contributing to “We want to make sure that Agency. Nearly 700 counties Mepouunon. people recognize that there are across the nation were monitored The association blames file poor some places in the country whexe and are ranked according to how air quality findings on outdated the air is pretty good,” Nolen said.

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