Trouble in Air: New York City’s Health at Risk With 75 Dirty Air Days in 2016

NEW YORK, July 12 -- Environment New York issued the following news release:

As the Trump administration considers weakening federal air quality and global warming emissions standards, air pollution remains a threat to public health. According to a new report by Environment New York Research & Policy Center, 20 million people in the New York City metropolitan area experienced 75 days of degraded air quality in 2016, increasing the risk of premature death, asthma attacks and other adverse health impacts.

"All New York residents should be able to breathe clean air. Even one day with polluted air is too many," said Elizabeth Leape, Campaign Coordinator with Environment New York Research & Policy Center. "To make dirty air days a thing of the past, we need to strengthen existing air quality protections and reduce future air pollution threats from global warming."

For the report, Trouble in the Air: Millions of Americans Breathe Polluted Air, Environment New York Research & Policy Center, Frontier Group and U.S. PIRG Education Fund reviewed Environmental Protection Agency records of air pollution levels across the country, focusing on smog and particulate pollution - harmful pollutants that come from burning fossil fuels such as coal, diesel, gasoline and natural gas.

"There's no safe level of exposure to smog and particulate pollution," said Elizabeth Ridlington, Policy Analyst with Frontier Group and co-author of the report. "Even low levels of smog and particulate pollution are bad for health and can increase deaths."

These troubling findings come at a time when the Trump administration prepares to weaken the federal clean car standards, a critical program to cut global warming emissions and increase fuel efficiency. In late June, EPA officials announced the agency will review the federal ozone standard.

The report's authors called on the federal government to strengthen, not weaken, the clean car standards and continue to allow states to adopt stronger vehicle pollution standards. The authors also called on EPA to strengthen ozone and particulate pollution standards.

"To protect our health, we must keep cutting smog, particulate pollution and global warming emissions," said Leape. "We must accelerate our progress, not hit the brakes on effective programs like the federal clean car standards."