Charlotte gets an ‘F’ from the American Lung Association, Asheville an ‘A’
In a report on the nation’s air quality Wednesday, the American Lung Association gave Charlotte-Mecklenburg County an “F” for its number of high ozone days and a “C” for harmful particles in the air from car and truck exhaust, industrial plant emissions, construction dust and other sources.
Released on Earth Day, the 27th annual State of the Air report tracked exposure to unhealthy ozone and particle pollution in the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. Mecklenburg was the only county in North Carolina to receive an “F” for high ozone days and a failing grade for combined ozone and high particle pollution days.
The county dropped from a “D” in last year’s report for high ozone days, Danna Thompson, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in North Carolina, told The Charlotte Observer in a phone interview.
Despite the low grades, the city and county weren’t named in Wednesday’s report as among America’s worst polluting cities and counties. Still, residents should take the low grades as a “call to action,” Thompson said.
Action could include everything from more hiking and biking to less car use and holding local, state and federal officials more accountable for the quality of the air. It could also include infrastructure and transportation planning, she said.
Code orange, code red days
Mecklenburg had 10 code orange ozone days, more than any other county in the state, and was the only county with a code red day, according to the report.
Code orange days are unhealthy for older adults, children, active people and those with heart or lung disease, according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. Code red days are unhealthy for everyone.
Graham County in the mountains was next with seven code orange days, likely because of wildfires, Thompson said. Forsyth County, which includes Winston-Salem, followed with six. Graham got a D from the lung association and Forsyth a C.
Wake County had two code orange days and was graded a B.
Forsyth had six code orange high particle pollution days for a D grade and Wake five days for a C.
Thompson said it’s difficult to pinpoint a particular source as the problem in Mecklenburg and most other counties. Various factors may contribute to a poor score.
The emergence of data centers also poses a concern, she said.
At the same time, “we’ve had rollbacks by the EPA in regulations under the Clean Air Act” regarding industrial pollution, she said.
And 2024 saw mercury and other contaminant standards repealed, Thompson said.
Cities in the Carolinas that ranked high for clean air
The news was not all bad for the Carolinas because some areas ranked high for clean air in Wednesday’s report.
The areas include Asheville-Waynesville-Brevard, Greenville-Washington, Wilmington and Charleston-North Charleston, Florence, Myrtle Beach-Conway, S.C.
Asheville-Waynesville-Brevard and Charleston-North Charleston appear on a list of 21 cities named the cleanest for short-term particle pollution. The list doesn’t rank the individual cities.
On the list of top 25 cleanest U.S. cities for year-round particle pollution, Wilmington ranks No. 15 and Asheville-Waynesville-Brevard No. 21.
Greenville-Washington, Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids, Wilmington and Florence and Myrtle Beach-Conway, S.C. are named among the cleanest in America for ozone air pollution. The list doesn’t rank the individual cities.