The American Lung Association calls it a “grim indication of the deterioration of air quality nationwide”: Bangor, Maine, is the last city standing on all three of its “cleanest cities” lists.
Bangor has zero days of unhealthy ozone and short-term particle pollution, and some of the lowest year-round concentrations of dangerous particle pollution in the country, according to the association.
Typically, the association’s annual “State of the Air” report has at least one other city making all three lists. In some years, it’s had several. But this year’s report, published Wednesday, has the Queen City of the East – home of horror author Stephen King and the mythical birthplace of lumberjack Paul Bunyan – standing alone.
The country’s air quality is dangerous for millions of Americans, the report says. Nearly half the population – about 152 million people – breathes unhealthy air and lives in a county that the association gives a failing grade for air pollution.
About 32.9 million people live in counties with failing grades for all three pollution measures, and people of color are more than twice as likely as White people to live in a community with a failing grade on all three.
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Health dangers of pollution
Ozone and particle pollution are considered two of the most widespread and dangerous pollutants measured by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA defines particulate matter – also called particle pollution or soot – as a mix of solid and liquid droplets that float in the air. It can come in the form of dirt, dust or smoke. Coal- and natural gas-fired power plants create it, as do cars, agriculture, unpaved roads, construction sites and wildfires.
Particle pollution threatens human health because it is so tiny – a fraction of the width of a human hair – and can travel past the body’s usual defenses. When a person breathes these particles, they can get stuck in the lungs and move into the bloodstream, causing irritation and inflammation.
Even in the short term, particle pollution exposure can cause breathing problems or trigger a heart attack. Particle pollution is also considered a significant factor in premature death around the world, according to the World Health Organization. Exposure can raise the risk of conditions like certain cancers, stroke, asthma, preterm births, dementia, depression and anxiety.
Ozone pollution, also called smog, is the presence of ground-level ozone that forms when chemicals like nitrogen oxides and volatile organics from electric utilities, car exhaust, gasoline vapors, industrial facilities and chemical solvents react to sunlight.
Exposure to ozone pollution can cause asthma attacks and chest pain in the short term. Long-term exposure can also cause decreased lung function and premature death.
The data in the new report comes from 2022-24, the latest available from the EPA. Ozone pollution affected more people in the US in this year’s report than in the previous five. Levels of particle pollution showed some improvement, but groups exposed to high levels of this pollution faced much higher levels than in the past.
Los Angeles remains the worst in the country for ozone pollution, as it has been in all but one of the 27 years of the report. Bakersfield, California, has had the worst year-round particle pollution for the seventh year in a row, but it improved this year in terms of short-term particle pollution. Now, Fairbanks, Alaska, is ranked as the worst on the short-term particle pollution list.
Bangor earned an “A” for ozone and short-term particle pollution exposure and came in 10th on the list of 25 cities with the lowest year-round particle levels. Bozeman, Montana, took the top spot there this year.
The last time only one city made the three clean-air lists was 2012, when Santa Fe-Espanola, New Mexico, was named the top city. In 2022, 10 cities made the lists.
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‘An important part of our brand’
Bangor’s presence on the cleanest air lists for several years has been a real selling point for city, according to Anne Krieg, the city’s director of community & economic development department.
“We’ve heard many people say that they’ve read that Bangor has the cleanest air, and ‘I want to be there for that,’ ” Krieg said. “It’s healthy, and there’s a good outdoor environment. It’s really an important part of our brand. You can have a city life but also have access to clean air. Not a lot of cities do.”
A few factors set the city’s air apart from much of the rest of the country, said Dr. Jean MacRae, an associate professor who teaches a course in air pollution and solid waste at the University of Maine’s College of Engineering and Computing.
The area benefits from weather systems, a high concentration of forest land that filters the air, a good distance from polluting industries and a population of only about 33,000, so there are not as many cars on the road.
“Sometimes, bad air comes up the coast, so the southern part of the state sees some of that,” MacRae said.
Maine itself has been called the “Tailpipe of the Nation” since pollution from power plants and car manufacturers in the Midwest and from Northeastern states would drift toward it, but “air pollution controls have really reduced that over time,” MacRae said.
In fact, two US senators from Maine are credited with ushering in some of the country’s most important air pollution regulations.
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Sen. Edmund Muskie championed the Clean Air Act of 1970, which created the first federal limits on pollution and launched the EPA. Sen. George J. Mitchell helped create the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment that required states meet air quality goals and tightened car and truck emission standards.
The success of those protections is threatened under the Trump administration, according to Will Barrett, the assistant vice president of nationwide clean air advocacy with the American Lung Association.
“Significant rollbacks to our critical life-saving clean air rules are well underway because this EPA is moving away from their public health mission,” Barrett said.
The administration has undertaken what the EPA called the “biggest deregulatory action in US history,” reconsidering regulations on power plants, the oil and gas industry, mercury and toxic air standards, the greenhouse gas reporting program and curbs on car and truck pollution.
The climate crisis also makes it more difficult to breathe clean air. Extreme heat, wildfire smoke and drought all make air pollution worse. “All of that really speaks to the need for strong progressive policies,” Barrett said.
Krieg says warmer temperatures have, however, benefited her town at least in one way: driving an influx of new residents from states like Texas who are looking for a place with a more temperate climate and cleaner air.
“Maine is gorgeous for that,” she said.
The-CNN-Wire
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