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High ozone levels and a quickly growing population are making it tough to implement regulations to reduce pollution, says a Cal State LA professor.
The quality of the air in California may be improving, but it's still dire.
That's according to the American Lung Association's recent "State of the Air 2017" report, which labeled the state and region a leader in air pollution, with the highest ozone levels.
The annual study ranks the cleanest and most polluted areas in the country by grading counties in the U.S. based on harmful recorded levels of ozone (smog) and particle pollution. The 2017 report used data collected from 2013 to 2015.
The top three regions in the country with the worst smog levels were Los Angeles-Long Beach; Bakersfield; and Fresno-Madera; Salinas, though, was recognized as one of the cleanest cities in the state and the country.
"The Los Angeles basin is exposed to the highest ozone levels in the country," explains Steve LaDochy, Ph.D., professor of geosciences and environment at California State University, Los Angeles, an expert in air pollution and climate. "It is getting better here, but it's still the worst."
The toughest CAFE standard in the country does not seem to have solved California's air pollution problem.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 23 2017, @12:34PM
California is not overpopulated. It is a huge state. Most of it is quite rural. Venture outside the Bay Area and Orange County and that quickly becomes apparent. If they filled up the rest of their acreage with the same density as the SF peninsula they could probably fit the entire population of the United States.
They would have to do things differently than they do, such as dramatically expand mass transit to move all those people around, but a lack of space is not their problem.
Washington DC delenda est.