Making filthy air great again to pwn libs...

[tenderfoot]

US air quality is slipping after years of improvement

This combination of Dec. 13 and 17, 2018 photos shows the Utah State Capitol during clear and an inversion day in Salt Lake City. Inversions hover over Salt Lake City as cold, stagnant air settles in the bowl-shaped mountain basins, trapping tailpipe and other emissions that have no way of escaping to create a brown, murky haze the engulfs the metro area. After decades of getting ever cleaner, America’s air quality seems to be stagnating. In 2017 and 2018, the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows. While it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a trend, health experts say it’s a troubling development. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Over the last two years the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows. While it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a trend, health experts say it’s troubling to see air quality progress stagnate.

There were 15% more days with unhealthy air in America both last year and the year before than there were on average from 2013 through 2016, the four years when America had its fewest number of those days since at least 1980.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed just the opposite, saying earlier this month in Ireland: “We have the cleanest air in the world, in the United States, and it’s gotten better since I’m president.”

That’s not quite the case. There were noticeably more polluted air days each year in the president’s first two years in office than any of the four years before, according to new Environmental Protection Agency data analyzed by The Associated Press.

The Trump administration is expected to replace an Obama-era rule designed to limit emissions from electric power plants on Wednesday. Called the Clean Power Plan, it would have gradually phased out coal-burning power plants that emit both air pollutants and heat-trapping gases responsible for climate change.

In this Friday, Nov. 9, 2018 file photo, people wear masks while walking through the Financial District in the smoke-filled air in San Francisco, as authorities issued an unhealthy air quality alert for parts of the San Francisco Bay Area as smoke from a massive wildfire drifts south. In 2017 and 2018, the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows. While it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a trend, health experts say it’s a troubling development.(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

The EPA quietly posted new air quality data online last month that shows a recent uptick in polluted days.

Five hundred and thirty-two American metro areas reported a total of 4,134 days in 2018 when the official air quality index passed 100, which means it is unhealthy for people with heart and lung disease, the elderly and the very young. That’s about 15% more bad air days per city than the average for 2013 to 2016, America’s clean air heyday.

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In an email, the EPA told The Associated Press the increase in unhealthy air days in 2017 “is largely associated with wildfires” in the west and it is studying 2018 before officially announcing its annual air trend data.

Air pollution experts agree wildfires likely have had a role, along with random variation, a stronger economy which leads to more consumption of fuels, and a changing climate. Higher temperatures increase the chances for fires and smog.

Even with the recent stagnation, there are far fewer bad air days now than in the early 2000s, 1990s and 1980s. Perciasepe said what’s happening now is a “tug of war” between the worsening effects of warming on air quality and cleaner air from less coal use and more efficient cars.

But if regulations on coal plants, cars and other emissions are relaxed, the air quality will deteriorate, said Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor Neil Donahue.

https://www.apnews.com/d3515b79af1246d08f7978f026c9092b

ps: How does the top right photo make America great again?

[dchill]

1. Whatever it takes to pwn the libs, eh?

[Haggis for Breakfast]

2. First rule --

Don't believe ANYTHING that trump says about the environment.

[Stuart G]

3. U.S. is moving backwards, not forwards. In December 1952, in London England, there

was an air inversion that lasted about a week. It killed 6000 people over the course of time. Because of that one incident, cities passed laws that forbid the use of coal for heating. Over time, coal was going to be outlawed for use in electric power plants. I guess Trump wants to reverse that. This shows that Trump is a complete stupid idiot. The Number 1 idiot in the world, and a very dim bulb. (less than 5 watts. yes, that is dim)

Here is a link on that killer smog:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London

Side story about that. Cities around the world outlawed coal burning furnaces for heat. Each city passed its own laws on when that was to be done. In 54 or 55, for a reason I didn't know, my dad and my uncle, changed our furnace in our two family 2 story apartment, from coal burning to oil burning. Perhaps they said that it was for "legal" reasons cause the City of Chicago mandated it. But I didn't know till I became an adult and read about this, " London Smog" that the real reason became clear.