Consider this: 154.5 million Americans, just over half the nation’s population, live in areas where air pollution levels are often dangerous to breathe. That’s according to the American Lung Association’s (ALA) just-released report 2011 State of the Air. Forbes.com has released America’s most polluted in 2011 list. See below to see who made the list.
The cities ranked worst in air quality? California metros like Los Angeles, Visalia, Hanford and Fresno. Bakersfield, Calif., ranked the worst in terms of short-term and year-round particle pollution. It also ranked second-worst, behind Los Angeles, for smog levels, known formally as ozone pollution.
Many major urban hubs in the Golden State ranked high on the list, but one other southwestern U.S. city tied Los Angeles for second place: Phoenix, Ariz. Like California’s hardest-hit cities, the foreclosure mecca’s climate and geography serve as incubators for airborne toxins. But one of the biggest reasons for Phoenix’s high pollution levels is actually cattle ranches found south of the city, in Pinal County and vicinity. “Those cattle ranches are contributing a lot of fine particle pollution to the small communities near them that are part of the Phoenix metro area, but also to the tribe adjacent to it,” says Nolen. “It’s also being blown into other parts of the city.”
Closer to the east coast, Pittsburgh, Pa., has long been associated with coal, and it shows in the numbers. The Steel City ranks seventh on the list of most polluted, followed by another metro chock-full of coal-fired power plants: Birmingham, Ala.
TOP 5 Include:
5. Hanford, California
4. Visala, California
3. Phoenix, Arizona
2. Los Angeles, California
1. Bakersfield, California
Click here to view more photos on America’s most polluted cities
