New England has experienced slightly fewer unhealthy air quality days this year, but that wasn’t due to lower air pollution in Connecticut.
In fact, Connecticut was responsible for 21 of the region’s 30 “unhealthy air quality” days recorded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) between March and September. That’s only down two days from 2018.
EPA considers unhealthy days when ozone concentrations exceed the 0.070 parts per million threshold. The measurement varies year-to-year as a result of weather conditions, the independent federal agency said Thursday.
Other New England states recording unhealthy air quality days included Massachusetts (five), Rhode Island (two) and New Hampshire and Maine (one). Each of those states slashed their number of unhealthy air quality days by more than half compared to the year-ago period in 2018, EPA said.
Vermont did not record an unhealthy air quality day in the March-September period.
In New England, the majority of air pollution is driven by cars and trucks, followed by fossil fuel electric power plants, gasoline refilling stations and print shops, among other outfits contributing to ozone pollution.
Still, the number of unhealthy ozone days has been on a steep decline in New England since 1983, when 118 unhealthy days were recorded, EPA said.
“We can all feel proud of the progress we have made in reducing ozone pollution over the past several decades,” said EPA Region 1 Administrator Dennis Deziel. “There is still work to be done, especially in some parts of southern New England, we continue to experience too many days with unhealthful air quality.”
