New air quality report gives Charlotte 'F' for ozone pollution

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The air Charlotteans breathe may be putting their health at risk. That’s according to a new “State of the Air” report released from The American Lung Association, which gives Charlotte an "F" for ozone pollution -- otherwise known as smog.

The Queen City ranked 41st worst in the country for ozone.

However, the report found that Charlotte, as well as Concord, have some of the cleanest air -when it comes to particle pollution, stating that cleaner power plants and cars helped improve that aspect of air quality.

A view of the Charlotte skyline at sunset atop the Hyatt Place Charlotte Downtown.

Hickory and Lenoir experienced zero unhealthy air days and were named among the cleanest cities for ozone pollution.

"The 2018 'State of the Air' report reveals that unhealthful levels of pollution put our citizens at risk," said Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Health Promotions for the American Lung Association in North Carolina, June Deen. "Ozone pollution and particle pollution are two of the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants. Breathing these pollutants can cause asthma attacks, respiratory and cardiovascular harm, and even early death. Breathing particle pollution can also cause lung cancer. Despite the recent increase in ozone pollution, the ‘State of the Air’ 2018 report shows that the Clean Air Act has worked to clean up much of the dangerous air pollution across the nation for decades. The air is cleaner, but not clean enough to protect people's health from harm. And climate change will continue to make both ozone pollution and particle pollution harder to clean up."

Click here to learn more about city rankings, as well as air quality across North Carolina and the nation, in the 2018 "State of the Air" report.

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