air quality

Once again, the American Lung Association's annual “State of the Air” report misleads the public by exaggerating the data and issuing “grades” meant more to scare than to inform. The ALA claims up to 900 percent more high-ozone days than actually occurred and gives F grades to counties that are having no problem meeting EPA guidelines.

RALEIGH — With the American Lung Association’s latest national rankings on air quality due out today, John Locke Foundation analysts urge caution in interpreting the association’s “biased” data. “There is…

RALEIGH — A new report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project is garnering attention from policymakers and the news media despite the fact that it “clearly misleads the public” said…

Flawed studies and ignorance about North Carolina air quality have given lawmakers and the general public an inaccurate picture of trends in ground-level ozone, or "smog," in some cases exaggerating public exposure by a factor of 10. This study reexamines air-quality data from monitors across the state, concluding that exposure to dangerous ozone levels is surprisingly rare - and is dropping even without passage of the proposed "Clean Smokestacks" legislation.

The Southern Appalachian Mountain Initiative (SAMI) is a consortium of eight Southeastern states, including North Carolina, and several federal agencies. It is now beginning to publish its research, more than a decade in the making, and will likely help to shape the debate on air quality for years. State policymakers should be cautious in interpreting SAMI data and analyses, however, due to troubling signs that it may not be looking at both sides of the regulatory equation.

The American Lung Association's recent report on ozone fueled a media frenzy in North Carolina, with repeated suggestions that the air in the Triangle and Charlotte was "more polluted than New York City's." The truth is far different. Due to a misleading grading system and a faulty and selective reading of data, the ALA report provides little useful information to North Carolinians about the quality of the air they breathe, and falsely suggests that pollution is increasing.