Report: Pa. air quality improving in some areas
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PITTSBURGH – Air quality in parts of Pennsylvania is getting better, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement, according to a new report issued Wednesday by the American Lung Association.
The “State of the Air” report found that the Pittsburgh-New Castle area was the eighth worst in the nation in terms of year-round particle pollution, or soot. The Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland area in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland was 11th worst in soot, and Allentown-Bethlehem was 14th worst.
But Pittsburgh air has improved in recent years since the city in 2008 was third-worst in the nation. The 2013 soot readings for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia also were the lowest ever for those areas, while readings in Allentown were higher than last year.
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh fared better in national ozone rankings, coming in at 20th and 24th, respectively. Los Angeles had the worst ozone in the nation.
The report also lists the cities with the cleanest air in the nation, but no Pennsylvania city made that list.
The group said that in general air quality nationwide continues to improve because of transitions to cleaner fuels.