In a new report from the American Lung Association, Eugene-Springfield made the list of top five most polluted cities in the U.S. when it comes to air pollution.
The “State of the Air” report finds that spikes in deadly particle pollution are the worst they’ve been in America in 25 years. Fine particulate matter air pollution, or soot, comes from wildfires, wood-burning stoves, diesel engines.
Eugene-Springfield is listed as the fourth most polluted city for both short-term and year-round particle pollution.
“We agree that that placing on the list is certainly troubling,” said Travis Knudsen with the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency. “And because of wildfire contributions that we’ve seen become more common and growing due to our warming and drying climate—it is something we are likely to see move forward into the future.”
Particle pollution can trigger asthma attacks and strokes and can also cause lung cancer.
Knudsen said while there are ways to mitigate human-caused particle air pollution—like reducing the use of wood stoves—wildfires are harder, sometimes impossible to control.
“Each late summer and into the fall we see the forest get dry because of the heat, we see the lack of rain and that’s when the fires begin,” he said. “It creates that particulate matter pollution from that smoke that is picked up on our monitors that the American Lung Association looks at when they’re making that judgement.”
Not just one bad year
The air pollution ranking for Eugene-Springfield isn’t based on just one smoky year. The recently released “State of the Air” report includes the most recent quality-assured data from 2020-2022. So yes, the period during which the Holiday Farm Fire blanketed sooty smoke across the southern Willamette Valley is part of the data. The report was also updated to reflect the new annual particle pollution standard that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized in February 2024.
The report also covers years that include the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite speculation that behavioral changes during pandemic shutdowns would result in improved air quality, the report shows that poor air quality continued to impact millions of people. Notable reasons include freight and goods movement on heavy-duty trucks, rail and ports. Additionally, wildfire smoke threatened lung health in many communities during these years.
The 2024 report reveals that people in the U.S. experienced the most days with “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality due to particle pollution in 25 years.
Places doing better or worse
Bakersfield, California ranked as the city most polluted by both short-term and year-round particle pollution.
Ground-level ozone pollution is a powerful respiratory irritant with effects likened to a “sunburn of the lungs.” The American Lung Association ranked Los Angeles-Long Beach, California the city most polluted by ozone pollution.
Bangor, Maine and Wilmington, North Carolina were among the “leanest U.S. cities, according to the report, when measuring for ozone and particle pollution days and levels.
The report finds that in total, 131 million people, or 39% of Americans, are living in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution.
In a statement, the American Lung Association said that EPA recently finalized new air pollution rules that will help clean up particle pollution and address climate change, such as the updated particle pollution standards, a rule to place stricter limits on tailpipe emissions from new cars and a rule to clean up truck pollution.
The Lung Association added it is urging EPA to set long-overdue stronger national limits on ozone pollution. Stronger limits would help people protect themselves and drive cleanup of polluting sources across the country.
