"About 44 million Americans live in cities or counties that received a failing grade for air quality, which has deteriorated to its worst in 25 years across a swath of the U.S., in part because of wildfires, a report released on Wednesday found.

The American Lung Association's annual "State of the Air" report said cities with the poorest quality air are concentrated in the West, including Los Angeles and San Bernardino in California and Phoenix, Arizona.

Among the places with the highest quality air are Bangor, Maine along with Honolulu, Hawaii, and Wilmington, North Carolina, where ocean breezes tend to disperse pollutants, the report's author Katherine Pruitt, a senior director with the association, said in an interview.

"Dangerous pollution has serious health effects for all people, but especially for the vulnerable," she said.

The report was based on 2022 data - the most recent available - collected through thousands of air quality monitors set up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

Rich Mckay reports for Reuters April 24, 2024. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"130 Million Americans Routinely Breathe Unhealthy Air, Report Finds" (NPR) [3]