Latest news with #StateoftheAirReport
USA Today
2 days ago
- Climate
- USA Today
Heavy smoke expected to hit the US as dangerous Canadian wildfires force 17K to evacuate
Heavy smoke expected to hit the US as dangerous Canadian wildfires force 17K to evacuate Blazes in the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have forced thousands to evacuate. Smoke from the fires is expected to waft over the U.S. through the weekend. Show Caption Hide Caption 'Massive smoke plumes' from wildfires cover Canadian provinces Timelapse satellite imagery shows wildfires and thick smoke over two Canadian provinces on Monday, May 26. CSU/CIRA & NOAA via Storyful CSU/CIRA & NOAA As many as 17,000 people in Canada are being evacuated as active wildfires have charred hundreds of thousands of acres in the country, officials said, threatening to waft heavy smoke over the northern United States. Rising heat, winds, and dry air sparked blazes in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, according to the country's Department of Natural Resources. Residents in the United States are expected to face poor air quality from the fires as soon as May 30. "This is a very serious situation," Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said at a news conference on May 29. "I do fear things are going to deteriorate with the weather we have ahead of us in the days ahead." Active blazes have burned 696,000 acres in Saskatchewan and 173,000 acres in Manitoba, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. A total of nearly 1.5 million acres have burned across the two provinces so far this year, according to the fire center. Moe said he expected the fires to worsen until a two or three-day rainfall event. Smoke from the blazes is expected to fall heavily over Midwestern states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, and cut across the country to reach the Carolinas by May 31, according to FireSmoke Canada, a team of forecasters at the University of British Columbia. Canadian authorities have called in the military to help with the "sheer scale" of the evacuations, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference. "We're talking about hours instead of days to move this amount of people," said Kinew, adding it was the largest evacuation "seen in most people's living memory." The two provinces have declared a state of emergency. The blazes also stretch into the province of Ontario, where 130,000 acres have burned. Canadian wildfires, again The smoke drifting over the United States from the Canadian blazes comes after American cities in the Northeast, Midwest, and Plains encountered unhealthy air quality due to the nightmarish wildfires in Canada in 2023. Over 6,000 blazes left more than 37 million acres burned, an area larger than England, according to Canada's natural resources department. The American Lung Association's 2025 "State of the Air Report" found that a growing number of Americans were living with poor air quality due to the Canadian fires, even as other means of pollution were reduced. The report was based on data through 2023. As of May 29, 1,500 blazes have charred 1.8 million acres across Canada. 'We were not prepared': Canada fought nightmarish wildfires as smoke became US problem What to expect in the United States Smoke from the blazes is expected to waft over large parts of the United States starting in the Midwest, according to forecasters at FireSmoke Canada. Minnesota began feeling the impact of the blazes on May 29, according to the state's Pollution Control Agency. Upper Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were expected to experience poor air quality by the evening. Smoke is expected to hit the Ohio Valley on May 30 and the Carolinas by the early hours of Saturday. Minnesota authorities warned of unhealthy levels of exposure to fine particles from the wildfires. Symptoms include everything from shortness of breath to heart attack and stroke.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump is Giving These Facilities a Pass to Pollute More. Is Your Home at Risk?
Imagine if the billion-dollar companies that run oil refineries or chemical plants could ask the government for permission to spew more pollution into the air with less hassle than it takes to renew your driver's license. That's now a reality. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has created a shortcut for fossil fuel and chemical companies to request exemptions from rules that limit dangerous air pollution, such as mercury and arsenic, which are known to cause cancer and brain damage. All they have to do is email the White House. At the same time, the U.S. Senate has voted to overturn a regulation that required nearly every industrial site across the nation to control the seven most dangerous air pollutants. The move hands a major win to about 1,800 of the worst-polluting facilities in the country. In coming weeks, the House is expected to pass the same resolution, and President Donald Trump has signaled he will sign it into law. Combined, the moves level a historic double blow to the nation's ability to control air pollution. This is the first time in the 55-year history of the Clean Air Act that Congress has actually moved to weaken these protections. Essentially, the federal government is rolling back protections that, in the past, they acknowledged were saving lives and preventing diseases in neighborhoods in every pocket of the country. The Trump administration says the moves will stimulate the economy by making it cheaper for industrial companies to operate by not having to upgrade their technologies to limit pollution. Environmental advocates warn this fast-track process, rolled out with a template and pointers for success for polluters, is an unprecedented attempt to sidestep safeguards that protect the health of Black communities and other vulnerable groups bearing the brunt of air pollution. Black people are nearly two times more likely than white people to live in communities with harmful air pollution, according to the American Lung Association's 2025 State of the Air Report. 'Corporations will cash in while families and children breathe a toxic mix of cancer-causing chemicals,' said James Pew, director of federal clean air practice at Earthjustice, one of the nation's largest environmental law firms. Already, in 97% of all U.S. counties, Black people have the highest rate of deaths attributed to air pollution, and income levels across races do not contribute to any differences. For families living near these plants, it could mean more days when the air is unsafe to breathe, more children struggling with asthma, and more loved ones lost to pollution-linked illnesses. Across the nation, Black children cough through asthma attacks at rates two times higher than white children and die from asthma at a rate four times higher. 'When you remove limits on pollution, you get more of it,' said Joanna Slaney, the political and government affairs vice president for the Environmental Defense Fund. This 'will mean more cancer, more brain development issues for young children, and more heart and lung problems for older people.' A coalition of health, community, and environmental organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund, has released a new interactive map highlighting more than 500 industrial sites across the U.S. that could soon be exempt from federal air pollution limits through the 'pollution' pass being granted by Trump. The map identifies facilities such as coal-fired power plants, petrochemical manufacturers, and sterilizers, many of them concentrated in states like Texas, Louisiana, and Ohio. The map's release comes as advocates warn that the White House and Environmental Protection Agency's new exemption process lacks transparency and public input, and could roll back decades of hard-won progress in communities already burdened by industrial pollution. 'This reckless and dangerous invitation for industrial sources to evade compliance with national pollution limits puts millions of Americans in harm's way,' said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund. Users of the map can enter their address to see which polluting facilities are nearby, filter by facility type or location, check proximity to public schools, and access links to contact the EPA directly. The tool also tracks which facilities or their representatives have requested or been granted exemptions, and will be updated as new information becomes available. For now, advocates are urging the EPA to withdraw the exemption offer and uphold its responsibility to protect the public, especially those communities that have borne the brunt of environmental harm for generations. 'What about the rights, the health, and the well-being of the people who are suffering and dying from exposure to this pollution?' said Robert Taylor, the director of Concerned Citizens of St. John in Louisiana. 'The President is making sure these polluting plants have the right to kill us.' The post Trump is Giving These Facilities a Pass to Pollute More. Is Your Home at Risk? appeared first on Capital B News.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
County scores poorly in national air pollution report
The American Lung Association gave Ashtabula County a D grade in its 2025 State of the Air Report. The ALA's annual report analyzed pollution across the United States based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency from 2021 to 2023. The county had nine orange days, which meant air quality was unhealthy for sensitive groups, due to high amounts of ozone gas. Ozone gas is created when nitrogen oxide pollution and volatile organic compound pollution reacts under sunlight. Both pollutants are common products of fossil fuels. ALA Director of Advocacy for Ohio and Michigan Kezia Ofosu Atta said when inhaled, ozone gas can cause asthma and harm to the cardiovascular, reproductive and nervous system. Lake and Cuyahoga counties both got an F for high ozone days, while Trumbull and Geauga counties got Cs. Erie County, Pennsylvania received a C. Data was not available for Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The state of the air report also looked into particle pollution, which is also a product of fossil fuels. The report included information on the the Cleveland-Akron-Canton metro area, which Atta said includes Ashtabula County. 'Six metro areas experienced levels of air pollution that moved them onto the Worst 25 list,' the report said. '[Greater Cleveland] posted the most dramatic shift in the country, resulting in its rank dropping from 54th to ninth worst [for year-round particle pollution].' The report did not have any information on particle pollution in Ashtabula County. Atta said increased wildfires caused by global warming have made both kinds of pollution more common. 'The 2023 Canadian wildfires made an impact, as well as our own emissions,' she said. Particle pollution carries many of the same health risks as ozone gas, Atta said. Overall, the report found air pollution across the country has gotten significantly worse in the last year, with 46% of Americans living in areas the report graded F for air pollution. 'This is nearly 25 million more people breathing unhealthy air compared to last year's report, and more than in any other 'State of the Air' report in the last ten years,' the report said. Children, seniors, people with asthma, pregnant individuals, non-white people and people in poverty are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, according to the report. Atta said seniors exposed to air pollution are more likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes, heart disease and congestive heart failure. Children are vulnerable too, she said. 'The incidences of asthma increased when they're exposed to pollution,' she said. Many fossil fuel factories are often built in poorer non-white communities, leaving them more exposed to pollution, Atta said. Atta said Black people are twice as likely to develop issues from air pollution, and Hispanic people are three times as likely.
CBS News
27-04-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
Denver food trucks encouraged to cut costs, go green with grant program
A food truck in Denver has given up its gas generator and is encouraging other food trucks to cut costs and go green. It goes beyond cars, the Regional Air Quality Council is offering a grant to help food trucks go electric. Food trucks like Amore Pizza, which has been serving New York-style pizza to Denverites for the last 10 years. "I think we have the best pizza in town," said owner Jiho Tighrine. CBS Tighrine said he'll do anything to ensure his customers are happy, which includes going green by ditching his old gas generator and switching to a clean electric system. For customers waiting in line, the pollution from food trucks might not even cross their minds. But the noise, the smell and the impact on the air are real. A single food truck running for eight hours with a gas generator can emit 165 pounds of carbon dioxide. That's the equivalent of burning 83 pounds of coal, according to the EPA. According to the American Lung Association's "State of the Air Report," Denver has some of the most polluted air in the country. Denver, Aurora and Greeley are sixth in the nation for most polluted cities. CBS David Sabados with the Regional Air Quality Council said, "Anytime you see a generator out working, just imagine 83 pounds of coal right next to it. And that's what it would be using for the day." Last year, the council launched "Engines Off," a grant program that offers food trucks the opportunity to switch to electric. The program covers 80% of the cost up to $20,000. "Some people ask about the upfront costs, and that's why we made the grants as large as they are," explained Sabados. Tighrine said he used to spend around $300 a month on gas, but now his electric bill costs just $50. "It's just like a Tesla," said Tighrine. "You go charge your car and you go in the morning. It lasts me at least 20 hours a day." He thinks it's a change for the better. Regional Air Quality Council The program has funded 30 food trucks so far, but the council hopes to convert 100 mobile businesses. Grant applications are still open, and the application is available online. Sabados said, "We can show that we could be replacing a lot of these generators out in the world, and that same technology can be used at construction sites and elsewhere."
CBS News
24-04-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Air quality in the Boston area is getting worse, report card says. See the grades for Massachusetts.
Air quality in the metro area that includes Boston, Worcester and Providence has gotten worse, a new report by the American Lung Association says. The "State of the Air Report" says wildfire smoke from Canada that was widespread in the New England region in 2023 is a big factor in the decline. The report looked at daily and long-term levels of particle pollution, as well as daily measures of ozone "smog" between 2021 and 2023. Worcester County saw higher daily particle pollution levels, causing its prior "B" grade to fall to a "C," the report explained. Worcester had an average number of 1.7 unhealthy air quality days per year, and the report notes that even a short-term spike in particle pollution "can be extremely dangerous and even deadly." "Although year-round particle pollution levels showed slight improvement, the metro area remains the second worst in the Northeast for this pollutant," the report says. The Boston area was ranked 61st worst in America for ozone pollution. Washington County in Rhode Island dropped to an "F" grade for ozone, with an average of 4.5 unhealthy days per year due to the smog. "Unfortunately, too many people in the Boston metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution," David Fitzgerald with the American Lung Association said in a statement. "This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick and unable to work, and leading to low birth weight in babies." Air quality grades in Massachusetts Below are the grades received by Massachusetts counties that reported ozone and particle pollution data. The report said zero Massachusetts counties earned "A" grades. Particle pollution grades Berkshire: D Bristol: C Essex: C Franklin: D Hampden: D Hampshire: C Middlesex: B Norfolk: B Plymouth: C Suffolk: B Worcester: C Ozone grades Barnstable: C Berkshire: B Bristol: D Dukes: C Essex: C Franklin: B Hampden: C Hampshire: B Middlesex: B Norfolk: D Plymouth: C Suffolk: C Worcester: B
