A report out Wednesday morning from the American Lung Association ranks Oklahoma’s two largest cities among the most-polluted in the country.
The 2015 State of the Air report ranked the Tulsa-Muskogee-Bartlesville metropolitan statistical area 12th on a list of the 25 most ozone-polluted cities. Also known as smog, it can aggravate pre-existing lung conditions such as asthma.
The Oklahoma City-Shawnee area was ranked 15th. But the report did say Oklahoma City and Tulsa were among some of the cleanest in the nation for particle pollution.
The executive director of the American Lung Association in Oklahoma – Jeremy Hughey – said cleaner diesel fleets and power plants have helped cut year-round particle pollution in central Oklahoma.
Compared to 2014, Oklahoma City cut short-term particle pollution levels. But it did have the same number of days of high ozone, or smog, and the same number of days when year-round particle pollution reached unhealthy levels.
The report says nationwide, more than four in 10 Americans, or roughly 139 million people, live in places where ozone levels make the air unhealthy to breathe.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
