Rejoice, Tucsonans! According to the American Lung Association, Tucson is among one of the best places to have lungs in this fair country of ours.
In a study released late last month, Tucson placed among the top sixteen cities in the country for both year-round and short-term particle pollution, along with fellow Arizona cities and towns, Flagstaff and Prescott.
By contrast, Phoenix continues to rank among the cities with the worst pollution and ozone issues — so eat that, Phoenix.
And just as a note, Tucson’s been among the cities with the cleanest air (ozone issues excluded) since at least 2008. Go us!
Check out the 2013 State of the Air report here.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2013.
This is the reason why my mother’s family moved out here in the 1950s. Talk about reporting a story late!
Just curious. Is this a function of high unemployment and a virtually non existent manufacturing base ? People who don’t have jobs don’t commute and burn fuel. Colleges, hospitals, and golf resorts ( big industries here) don’t have smoke stacks. While we don’t have much pollution, we also don’t have a very high average wage.
There are jobs here in green valley need peeps who want to work!
I’ve started quitting smoking (helping to improve the air quality)…however two weeks into it, my sense of smell has rejuvenated, and I found that the desert air really has a musty dirty stink to it…why is that…
If this is the best in the country, the rest of the country is in deep dooodooo….
Too bad it’s so heavily laden with dust. I know that the EPA doesn’t care about dust, as it is not a man-made pollutant, but my nose and lungs hate it just the same.
The problem is not pollution, the problem is (a) increasing heat and (b) millions of people in Phoenix who will soon deploy for Tucson, thereby bringing all their junk and junky air with them. Enjoy it while it lasts. Or work to form Baja Arizona, so we can set our own population goals.