New Jersey air quality among worst in USA

A new report on air quality in the U.S. ranked the New York metropolitan area, including parts of New Jersey, as one of the worst in the country for ozone pollution, despite improvements over previous years.

The report, by the American Lung Association, investigated both ground-level ozone air pollution and particle pollution, named “soot”, from 2018 through 2020. The “State of the Air” analysis classified the New York-Newark metro area the 14th worst for ozone air pollution where six counties, Bergen, Camden, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex and Ocean, continued to receive failing grades in ozone air quality.

The ALA report, which comes out annually, said particle pollution affected 9 million more Americans than it did in the previous analysis. It also found that minorities are 61% more likely than non-minorities to live in a county with a failing grade for ozone or particle pollution.

Essex County showed worse particle pollution levels than in previous years in both daily and year-round measures.