American Lung Association Report: Rhode Island’s Air Quality Makes Improvement

American Lung Association Report: Rhode Island’s Air Quality Makes Improvement

The 2022 “State of the Air” report, released on Thursday by the American Lung Association, finds that all Rhode Island’s counties with grades improved their performance for ozone smog, one of the most harmful and widespread types of air pollution. The Boston-Worcester-Providence metro area, which includes Rhode Island’s 5 counties improved for ozone for the second year in a row, and ranked as one of the cleanest cities for short-term particle pollution for the third year in a row.

This new report stands in stark contrast to the ALA’s 2019 report which found “Rhode Island’s air quality received failing grades from the American Lung Association. The data shows RI’s air quality is diminishing and according to the report, 87 percent of Rhode Islanders are breathing unhealthy air.”

The ALA’s 2019 “State of the Air” report found all three reporting counties in Rhode Island received failing grades for ozone pollution this year, and all three also reported an increase of year-round particle pollution. The annual air quality “report card” tracks Americans’ exposure to unhealthful levels of ozone or particle pollution, both of which can be deadly. 

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2022 Report

The 2022 report shows significant reason for optimism, but the data may have been impacted by the ever-changing behavior of the pandemic.

“On unhealthy air days, ozone and particle pollution can harm the health of all of our residents, but particularly at risk are children, older adults, pregnant people and those living with chronic disease. Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer,” said Daniel Fitzgerald, director of advocacy for the Lung Association in Rhode Island. “Fortunately, the area did see an improvement in the levels of both pollutants this year.”

 

Ground-level Ozone Pollution in Providence

Compared to the 2021 report, the Boston-Worcester-Providence metro area experienced fewer unhealthy days of high ozone in this year’s report. “State of the Air” ranked the metro area as the 47 most polluted city for ozone pollution, which is better compared to their ranking of 40 in last year’s report.

Notable County Grades on ozone:

- Two of the three reporting counties, Kent and Washington, improved their grades from F to D, while Providence maintained the failing grades from last year’s report
- Each county reported decreased levels of ozone pollution
- All other counties did not collect this data

 

Particle Pollution in Providence

The report also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even lethal. Providence’s short-term particle pollution maintained an A grade in this year’s report, which means there were zero unhealthy days.  However, Providence continued to rank as the most polluted county in the Boston-Worcester-Providence metro area for year-round particle pollution. The area is ranked 86th most polluted for year-round particle pollution, slightly better than the ranking of 84 last year).

Notable county grades on particle pollution:

- All three reporting counties maintained A grades for short-term particle pollution
- All counties continued to meet the national standard for year-round particle pollution
- Washington County ranked as one of three of the cleanest counties in the nation for year-round particle pollution
- Providence county ranked as the most polluted for year-round particle pollution in the Boston-Worcester-Providence metro area

 

Nationally - Numbers Are Not as Positive

The report found that nationwide, nearly 9 million more people were impacted by deadly particle pollution than reported last year. It also shows more days with “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality than ever before in the two-decade history of this report.

Overall, more than 137 million Americans live in counties that had unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air. The report found that people of color were 61% more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one pollutant, and 3.6 times as likely to live in a county with a failing grade for all three pollutants.

See the full report results at Lung.org/SOTA.