Bergen County Fails American Lung Association’s “State of the Air” report

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the American Lung Association’s new “State of the Air” report finds that nearly 120 million people in the U.S., or more than one in three, live in counties that had unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. Overall, air quality has improved across the nation; however, major differences exist between air quality in eastern and western states and between air pollution exposures for white people and people of color.

The Lung Association’s 24th annual “State of the Air” report grades Americans’ exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution, annual particle pollution, and short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period. This year’s report covers 2019-2021.

The report found that out of the nearly 120 million people who live in areas with unhealthy air quality, a disproportionate number – more than 64 million (54%) – are people of color. In fact, people of color were 64% more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one measure, and 3.7 times as likely to live in a county with a failing grade for all three measures. This is an increase compared to last year’s report where people of color were 61% more likely to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one measure, and 3.6 times as likely to live in a county with a failing grade for all three measures. Differences in air quality were also seen between eastern and western states. More than 18 million residents in Western states live in counties with three failing grades and the worst 25 counties for short-term particle pollution were all located in the Western U.S.

Bergen County is one of just two New Jersey counties to receive a failing grade for the recent high number of smog-ridden days . Mercer County is the other. The North Jersey County registered 15 days between 2019 and 2021 when the air was unhealthy for sensitive groups, namely people who live with adult asthma, pulmonary disease or lung cancer.

“State of the Air” grades are based on the number of days a county’s air reaches unhealthful levels on the Air Quality Index. Each unhealthy air day is given a weighted score, with orange days given a weight of 1, red days 1.5, purple days 2 and maroon days 2.5. Those daily scores are added up and divided by 3 to get a weighted average that is then assigned a grade. For year-round particle pollution, grading is based on the national standard for annual PM_2.5 of 12 μg/m³. Counties for which EPA lists a design value of at or below the standard are given grades of “Pass.” Counties at or above 12.1 μg/m³ are given grades of “Fail.”