April 24, 2024 • 10 mins
Every year, the American Lung Association ranks metro areas across the nation for air quality in terms of ozone and particle pollution. Most of Florida gets good marks, but some areas have issues, particularly Tampa Bay and South Florida. We speak with Ashley Lyerly with the ALA.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News.Well, of course, the American Lung
Association has for many years, reallysince the beginning of the century, taken
a look at the state of theair in the nation and the state of
Florida and the Tampa Bay Area,meaning how much we're having to deal with
as far as pollutants in the air, and it's always been a big concern
(00:23):
of THEIRS. To speak with usabout this year's report, we have Ashley
Lyarley. She is the Senior directorof Advocacy for the American Lung Association.
Ashley, welcome to Beyond the News. Thank you so much for having me.
Well, before we get we're goingto really focus in on the results
from Florida. But before we getto that, if you could kind of
(00:43):
step back and draw us a bigpicture here as we look at the twenty
twenty four report, the overall trendover the years has obviously been improvement in
air quality, but the standards aregoing to get a little bit tighter.
Tell us about that. Yeah,thank you so much for that. In
our annual State of the Air Report. This is actually the twenty fifth year
that the American Lung Association has releasedthis report, and it really aims to
(01:07):
highlight air quality and impacts on publichealth across the nation. And as you've
said, we have certainly seen tremendousimpact and improvement in our air quality,
and a lot of that has todo with the implementation of the Clean Air
Act federally, but we continue tosee challenges across the nation and individual states
around individuals being exposed to unhealthy air. So in this year's report, nationally,
(01:34):
we found that more than one hundredand thirty one million people or nearly
four in ten people in the USliving counties that have unhealthy levels of ozone
or particle pollution. And as yousort of referenced related to standards, the
Lung Association is very involved in advocatingfor stronger standards to help us clean up
our air, not only for particlepollution, which we just recently this year
(01:57):
in February saw high standards released fromthe EPA, but we're continuing to advocate
for stronger standards on ozone as well. And before we get to Florida,
if you could kind of zero inon the importance of this in terms of
people who are more vulnerable populations whomight be susceptible to more diseases or conditions,
(02:22):
and how air quality affects them.Absolutely, so, certainly we know
that ozone pollution, particle pollution,and we also talk about this from short
term sort of spikes, the twentyfive hour spikes that you would see in
air pollution, and then sort ofthe year round particle pollution. All of
that is really sort of unhealthy,certainly to be breathed. And we certainly
(02:45):
know that the ozone pollution specifically,you know, we talk about it being
really a powerful lung irritant and thosewho are exposed to ozone pollution, it's
sort of like getting a sunburn onyour lungs. But certainly we know that
those who even may have a chroniccondition, certainly being exposed long term to
air quality can cause you to haveasthma attacks, heart attacks, stroke.
(03:09):
We do also know that, youknow, exposure, long term exposure to
particle pollution can lead to lung cancer. Now, as we zero in on
Florida here, not every county,of course, gets measured by the federal
statistics that you use as the basisfor your report. Of the ones that
are, it appears most of themdo pretty well in the two categories that
(03:31):
you specify, the one being ozonepollution, the other being short term particle
pollution. The couple of exceptions tothat I noticed, one of which is
in the Tampa Bay area, whichyou rank seventy first for most polluted metro
area in the US, and thatseems to be because of one county in
(03:53):
particular. If you could kind ofexpand on that, yeah, I'm happy
to, and so you're correct.So for Tampa Bay for this year report,
we did find that the metro arearanked seventy first most polluted in the
US for for ozone pollution. Iwill also note though, that this area
has historically had issues with ozone pollution, and in fact, despite being seventy
(04:15):
first most polluted, this was actuallythe best ever ranking that the Tampa area
has had. But unfortunately, onthat same token, Tampa across the Southeast
was the third worst for ozone inthe Southeast. And so this ranking was
based on the worst county's average numberof unhealthy days, which was Hillsboro County.
(04:40):
So there was based off the calculationone point three days per year,
which gave the county a C grade. Can you point to any factors as
to why historically Hillsboro has had issuesand and what factors might be leading to
improvement. Yeah. So, Imean obviously for for ozone, So ozone
(05:00):
develops in the atmosphere from gases.So these are gases that are that are
emitted by motor vehicles, chemical plants, other types of industries, refineries,
I mean even some simple things likegas stations. You know, when you
fill your tank up with gas.You know, when those gases are emitted
and they interact with sunlight, theyit creates ozone or also known as as
(05:24):
smock. And certainly we know thatsort of higher temperatures sort of accelerate those
reactions, and we know that,you know, sort of we talk about
ozone being good up high and badnearby, and that you know, I
think for the Tampa area, certainlyrising temperatures and just knowing, you know,
the interaction of these gases with risingtemperatures will create more ozone in the
(05:47):
area. Now in the Miami andSouth Florida regions, you have a similar
grade in one county, uh,and that affects the area as a whole.
But it's kind of the opposite reasonsas far as Hillsborough County and I'm
speaking specifically here in Broward County andMiami Dade Counties. They're the issue is
(06:09):
more one of short term particles.If you could kind of explain that and
tell us a little bit about whatshort term particles are as compared to ozone
and why you measure that as afactor in terms of air pollution. Yeah,
So when we long association, whenwe look at sort of particle pollution,
you know, we look at itin two forms, as you've referenced,
short term particle pollutions and spikes.So that's really sort of those twenty
(06:31):
four hour spikes in particle pollution,which certainly can be extremely dangerous and even
sort of deadly. And so forthe sort of Miami area, for this
year's report, we saw that themetro area ranked eighty fifth worst in the
nation for short term particle pollution,and as you reference its referencing Broward County
being the worst county's average number ofunhealthy days. And then two, we
(06:57):
also look at year round particle pollution. So this this is the sort of
day in and day out particle pollutionthat we would sort of breathe, and
we did for this grade use thenewest federal standard that was released by the
US EPA, and you know,for the metro area, we saw that
Miami ranked forty eighth worst in thenation, and unfortunately, you know,
(07:18):
this was actually worse than the year'sranking and last year's report, which was
fifty fifth worst in the nation.So unfortunately, in around year around particle
pollution, we're seeing sort of thisthis worsen in the Miami area. But
as you mentioned, part of thatalso is the fact that you're using more
stringent standards. If I'm understanding correctly, that is that is absolutely correct.
(07:44):
And I will also note too,since we haven't said it yet, is
that this report, while it's we'rereleasing it, it's our twenty fifth annual
report. This does not include datafrom twenty twenty four, So the Lung
Association uses quality assured data from theEPA. So we're looking at and evaluating
data from a three year period,so twenty twenty twenty one and twenty twenty
(08:05):
two. Now, if we lookat the Orlando area and Central Florida,
it seems that they're less plagued byeither of these issues than are the Tampa
Bay and South Florida regions. Ifyou could kind of get into the numbers
for US. Yeah, So forthe Orlando metro area. In this year's
(08:26):
report, we ranked actually saw thatOrlando ranked among the cleanest in the nation
for both ozone and short term particlepollution, and you know, as it
relates to year round particle pollution.It was actually the seventh consecutive year that
we actually saw, unfortunately that theOrlando metro area was worsening as it relates
to year round particle pollution. Sowe moved. We saw the metro area
(08:52):
move from a ranking of ninety ninthmost polluted in the nation, which is
a higher ranking compared to one hundredand sixth in last year's report. Well,
it seems that overall, I meanI don't see any Florida metro areas
among the list of the twenty fiveworst. So it seems that we're mostly
(09:13):
in a better position than in manystates, in many regions of the country.
What are some of the steps you'rerecommending at federal and state and local
levels to deal with these issues andtry to bring all those numbers down.
Yeah, and I think you havea really accurate assessment. I mean,
I think we've seen continued improvements inour air quality. A lot of that
(09:37):
has to do not only with theimplementation of the Clean Air Act, but
I think also policies that are passedand implemented at the state level, and
individual things that people are doing.Certainly individuals, you know, transitioning to
an electric vehicle if you can toreduce your emissions, your vehicle emissions,
or carpooling with individuals or taking publictransit certainly will help us at the individual
(10:03):
level where you can sort of impacttheir quality that you breathe and you know,
certainly the Lung Association, we're goingto continue to advocate for policies to
sort of help support the transition toyou know, cleaner vehicles, as well
as stronger standards so that we knowthat industries have to comply with stronger standards,
which will ultimately help lead us tocleaner air. Will continue to follow
(10:28):
these developments as you have continued totrack the changes in our air quality over
the past quarter century. Ashley Liarley, Senior Director of Advocate three two one
Ashley Liarley, Senior Director of Advocacyfor the American Lung Association, Thank you
very much for joining us on Beyondthe News. Thank you so much Gordon,
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News.Well, of course, the American Lung
Association has for many years, reallysince the beginning of the century, taken
a look at the state of theair in the nation and the state of
Florida and the Tampa Bay Area,meaning how much we're having to deal with
as far as pollutants in the air, and it's always been a big concern
(00:23):
of THEIRS. To speak with usabout this year's report, we have Ashley
Lyarley. She is the Senior directorof Advocacy for the American Lung Association.
Ashley, welcome to Beyond the News. Thank you so much for having me.
Well, before we get we're goingto really focus in on the results
from Florida. But before we getto that, if you could kind of
(00:43):
step back and draw us a bigpicture here as we look at the twenty
twenty four report, the overall trendover the years has obviously been improvement in
air quality, but the standards aregoing to get a little bit tighter.
Tell us about that. Yeah,thank you so much for that. In
our annual State of the Air Report. This is actually the twenty fifth year
that the American Lung Association has releasedthis report, and it really aims to
(01:07):
highlight air quality and impacts on publichealth across the nation. And as you've
said, we have certainly seen tremendousimpact and improvement in our air quality,
and a lot of that has todo with the implementation of the Clean Air
Act federally, but we continue tosee challenges across the nation and individual states
around individuals being exposed to unhealthy air. So in this year's report, nationally,
(01:34):
we found that more than one hundredand thirty one million people or nearly
four in ten people in the USliving counties that have unhealthy levels of ozone
or particle pollution. And as yousort of referenced related to standards, the
Lung Association is very involved in advocatingfor stronger standards to help us clean up
our air, not only for particlepollution, which we just recently this year
(01:57):
in February saw high standards released fromthe EPA, but we're continuing to advocate
for stronger standards on ozone as well. And before we get to Florida,
if you could kind of zero inon the importance of this in terms of
people who are more vulnerable populations whomight be susceptible to more diseases or conditions,
(02:22):
and how air quality affects them.Absolutely, so, certainly we know
that ozone pollution, particle pollution,and we also talk about this from short
term sort of spikes, the twentyfive hour spikes that you would see in
air pollution, and then sort ofthe year round particle pollution. All of
that is really sort of unhealthy,certainly to be breathed. And we certainly
(02:45):
know that the ozone pollution specifically,you know, we talk about it being
really a powerful lung irritant and thosewho are exposed to ozone pollution, it's
sort of like getting a sunburn onyour lungs. But certainly we know that
those who even may have a chroniccondition, certainly being exposed long term to
air quality can cause you to haveasthma attacks, heart attacks, stroke.
(03:09):
We do also know that, youknow, exposure, long term exposure to
particle pollution can lead to lung cancer. Now, as we zero in on
Florida here, not every county,of course, gets measured by the federal
statistics that you use as the basisfor your report. Of the ones that
are, it appears most of themdo pretty well in the two categories that
(03:31):
you specify, the one being ozonepollution, the other being short term particle
pollution. The couple of exceptions tothat I noticed, one of which is
in the Tampa Bay area, whichyou rank seventy first for most polluted metro
area in the US, and thatseems to be because of one county in
(03:53):
particular. If you could kind ofexpand on that, yeah, I'm happy
to, and so you're correct.So for Tampa Bay for this year report,
we did find that the metro arearanked seventy first most polluted in the
US for for ozone pollution. Iwill also note though, that this area
has historically had issues with ozone pollution, and in fact, despite being seventy
(04:15):
first most polluted, this was actuallythe best ever ranking that the Tampa area
has had. But unfortunately, onthat same token, Tampa across the Southeast
was the third worst for ozone inthe Southeast. And so this ranking was
based on the worst county's average numberof unhealthy days, which was Hillsboro County.
(04:40):
So there was based off the calculationone point three days per year,
which gave the county a C grade. Can you point to any factors as
to why historically Hillsboro has had issuesand and what factors might be leading to
improvement. Yeah. So, Imean obviously for for ozone, So ozone
(05:00):
develops in the atmosphere from gases.So these are gases that are that are
emitted by motor vehicles, chemical plants, other types of industries, refineries,
I mean even some simple things likegas stations. You know, when you
fill your tank up with gas.You know, when those gases are emitted
and they interact with sunlight, theyit creates ozone or also known as as
(05:24):
smock. And certainly we know thatsort of higher temperatures sort of accelerate those
reactions, and we know that,you know, sort of we talk about
ozone being good up high and badnearby, and that you know, I
think for the Tampa area, certainlyrising temperatures and just knowing, you know,
the interaction of these gases with risingtemperatures will create more ozone in the
(05:47):
area. Now in the Miami andSouth Florida regions, you have a similar
grade in one county, uh,and that affects the area as a whole.
But it's kind of the opposite reasonsas far as Hillsborough County and I'm
speaking specifically here in Broward County andMiami Dade Counties. They're the issue is
(06:09):
more one of short term particles.If you could kind of explain that and
tell us a little bit about whatshort term particles are as compared to ozone
and why you measure that as afactor in terms of air pollution. Yeah,
So when we long association, whenwe look at sort of particle pollution,
you know, we look at itin two forms, as you've referenced,
short term particle pollutions and spikes.So that's really sort of those twenty
(06:31):
four hour spikes in particle pollution,which certainly can be extremely dangerous and even
sort of deadly. And so forthe sort of Miami area, for this
year's report, we saw that themetro area ranked eighty fifth worst in the
nation for short term particle pollution,and as you reference its referencing Broward County
being the worst county's average number ofunhealthy days. And then two, we
(06:57):
also look at year round particle pollution. So this this is the sort of
day in and day out particle pollutionthat we would sort of breathe, and
we did for this grade use thenewest federal standard that was released by the
US EPA, and you know,for the metro area, we saw that
Miami ranked forty eighth worst in thenation, and unfortunately, you know,
(07:18):
this was actually worse than the year'sranking and last year's report, which was
fifty fifth worst in the nation.So unfortunately, in around year around particle
pollution, we're seeing sort of thisthis worsen in the Miami area. But
as you mentioned, part of thatalso is the fact that you're using more
stringent standards. If I'm understanding correctly, that is that is absolutely correct.
(07:44):
And I will also note too,since we haven't said it yet, is
that this report, while it's we'rereleasing it, it's our twenty fifth annual
report. This does not include datafrom twenty twenty four, So the Lung
Association uses quality assured data from theEPA. So we're looking at and evaluating
data from a three year period,so twenty twenty twenty one and twenty twenty
(08:05):
two. Now, if we lookat the Orlando area and Central Florida,
it seems that they're less plagued byeither of these issues than are the Tampa
Bay and South Florida regions. Ifyou could kind of get into the numbers
for US. Yeah, So forthe Orlando metro area. In this year's
(08:26):
report, we ranked actually saw thatOrlando ranked among the cleanest in the nation
for both ozone and short term particlepollution, and you know, as it
relates to year round particle pollution.It was actually the seventh consecutive year that
we actually saw, unfortunately that theOrlando metro area was worsening as it relates
to year round particle pollution. Sowe moved. We saw the metro area
(08:52):
move from a ranking of ninety ninthmost polluted in the nation, which is
a higher ranking compared to one hundredand sixth in last year's report. Well,
it seems that overall, I meanI don't see any Florida metro areas
among the list of the twenty fiveworst. So it seems that we're mostly
(09:13):
in a better position than in manystates, in many regions of the country.
What are some of the steps you'rerecommending at federal and state and local
levels to deal with these issues andtry to bring all those numbers down.
Yeah, and I think you havea really accurate assessment. I mean,
I think we've seen continued improvements inour air quality. A lot of that
(09:37):
has to do not only with theimplementation of the Clean Air Act, but
I think also policies that are passedand implemented at the state level, and
individual things that people are doing.Certainly individuals, you know, transitioning to
an electric vehicle if you can toreduce your emissions, your vehicle emissions,
or carpooling with individuals or taking publictransit certainly will help us at the individual
(10:03):
level where you can sort of impacttheir quality that you breathe and you know,
certainly the Lung Association, we're goingto continue to advocate for policies to
sort of help support the transition toyou know, cleaner vehicles, as well
as stronger standards so that we knowthat industries have to comply with stronger standards,
which will ultimately help lead us tocleaner air. Will continue to follow
(10:28):
these developments as you have continued totrack the changes in our air quality over
the past quarter century. Ashley Liarley, Senior Director of Advocate three two one
Ashley Liarley, Senior Director of Advocacyfor the American Lung Association, Thank you
very much for joining us on Beyondthe News. Thank you so much Gordon,
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