Atlanta is 13 on list of most polluted U.S. cities

[mrchris386]

Not so bad, but I was surprised that Dallas or Houston wasn't on the list.

http://www.cbs46.com/Global/story.asp?S=6450760

The American Lung Association's most polluted U.S. cities

A complete list of the American Lung Association's most polluted U.S. urban areas by year-round particle pollution.

1: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.

2: Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pa.

3: Bakersfield, Calif.

4: Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, Ala.

5: Detroit-Warren-Flint, Mich.

6: Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, Ohio

7: Visalia-Porterville, Calif.

8: Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, Ohio, Ky., Ind.

9: Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, Ind.

10: St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, Mo., Ill.

11: Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, Ill., Ind., Wis. (tie)

11: Lancaster, Pa.

13: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Ga., Ala.

14: York-Hanover-Gettysburg, Pa.

15: Fresno-Madera, Calif. (tie)

15: Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va., Ohio

17: Hanford-Corcoran, Calif. (tie)

17: New York-Newark-Bridgeport, N.Y., N.J., Conn.

19: Canton-Massillon, Ohio

20: Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, D.C., Md., Va. (tie)

20: Charleston, W.Va.

22: Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, Ky., Ind.

23: Huntington-Ashland, W.Va., Ky., Ohio

24: Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, Pa., N.J., Del., Md. (tie)

24: Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Md., W.Va.

24: Rome, Ga.

[shanthemanatl]

I believe 13th is actually an improvement over how we might have been ranked 10 years ago.

[ryanmckibben]

To me the biggest shock is Lancaster, PA coming in at 11. Lancaster is the heart of Amish country. Growing up in Maryland, I went numerous times as a child. What the heck are those Amish up to?

[Pillsbury]

Lancaster, Bakersfield, York?? Man, I feel sorry for them.

To me the biggest shock is Lancaster, PA coming in at 11. Lancaster is the heart of Amish country. Growing up in Maryland, I went numerous times as a child. What the heck are those Amish up to?

[krazeeboi]

To me the biggest shock is Lancaster, PA coming in at 11. Lancaster is the heart of Amish country. Growing up in Maryland, I went numerous times as a child. What the heck are those Amish up to?

[Pillsbury]

So if Pittsburgh is bad enough to have its pollution spillover be worse than most big American cities, I can only imagine how horrible LA must be.

[teshadoh]

I don't think LA can be blamed for the majority of California pollution problems. For that matter I don't think Pittsburgh can be blamed for Lancaster, PA or Atlanta be blamed for Greenville, SC or Knoxville, TN be blamed for Charlotte, NC. Those are common blame games, there is often even people in Atlanta blaming Birmingham. Partly carryover pollution is true & does occur.

[krazeeboi]

I've heard it stated that Pittsburgh's air quality rankings are inflated, largely due to the location of the air quality monitors relatively near source points for air pollution.

[ryanmckibben]

Lancaster is nowhere near Pittsburgh, if anything it is an exurb of Philly.

[krazeeboi]

^Well then, I guess it could be catching it from Philly.

[DaltonGA]

It seems Lancaster and York most likely as in the path of prevailing winds from the Atlantic blowing towards the Appalachians from East Coast cities-Philly, NYC, Baltimore and DC. Also a lot of power production in the region is oil/coal fired.

Rome is likely getting pollution from both Birmingham and Atlanta as well as a paper to west in Coosa near the Alabama border and a Georgia Power plant on teh Etowah River in Kingston between Rome and Cartersville. The old GE transformer plant in West Rome/Garden Lakes is a source of PCB contamination and the Oostanaula River which joins the Etowah in Rome to form the Coosa, was once polluted by the carpet industry upstream in Calhoun and Dalton. Also, the summer heat and humidity result in the same type air quality Atlanta has during the same months.

The Central Valley of California metros on the list receive very little pollution from LA, due to mountains between LA and Bakersfield. More spillover pollution makes it into the valley from the Bay area as the Eastern, Southern and Western sides are surrounded by mountains, with the opening to the San Francisco Bay being fed by the delta of the Sacramento River which is joined by the San Joaquin from the Central Valley. Fresno, Modesto, Bakersfield and Stockton are industrial cities and the region is the largest agricultural area in California and chemical fertilizers and pesticides have contributed to pollution as well as being surrounded by mountains containing the pollution. The naturally arid state of the region doesn't help, nor does it having the fast population growth rate in California (percentage wise).

I'm surprised that St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville were highly placed as like Pittsburgh, their heavy industry days are gone and white collar employment has expanded greatly. But those cities are dependent on oil and coal burning power generation, whose tall stacks enable the pollution to be widely disbursed over a large area.