What is the air quality in Los Angeles?
Pollution in California
Air pollution in Los Angeles has caused widespread concerns. In 2011, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Survey on Californians and the Environment showed that 45% of citizens in Los Angeles consider air pollution to be a “big problem”, and 47% believe that the air quality of Los Angeles is worse than it was 10 years ago. The most recent PPIC Survey of 2018 showed that the strong majority of California adults (72%) and likely voters favor the new state law mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and 56% of adults support the state's cap-and-trade program. In addition, about half of Californians believe state climate policies will lead to more jobs, while the other half expects the price of gasoline to rise. In 2013, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside area ranked as the 1st most ozone-polluted city, the 4th most polluted city by annual particle pollution, and the 4th most polluted city by 24-hour particle pollution.
Environmental issues in Fresno, California
Fresno is the 34th-most populous city in the United States, at close to half a million people. It covers about 112 square miles (290 km2) in the center of the San Joaquin Valley, in the southern portion of California. Founded in 1872, the city has since become the economic hub of the San Joaquin Valley, with much of the surrounding areas tied to large-scale agricultural production. Contamination of ground water by pesticides and other chemical run-offs is a major issue. The monitoring and regulation of contaminants is lax. In 2001, Fresno had 2600 counts of radon in a sample compared to the national standard of 300 and U.S. average of 700. The problems of air quality are exacerbated by the surrounding mountains which trap emissions from the entire Central Valley. 1 in 6 Children in the San Joaquin Valley have asthma, the highest level in the State.
Water in California
After four decades of diversion from the Mono Lake area, environmental damage created an environmental battle in the 1980s, with a victory for the Mono Lake proponents in 1994. Other problems arose when dust from the bed of Owens Lake (completely dried up by diversions) became a major source of air pollution in the southern Owens Valley. To restore Mono Lake, correct air-quality law violations, and rewater portions of the Owens River, Los Angeles has begun to reduce its dependence on Eastern Sierra Nevada water. This has mostly been achieved through water conservation. The city enacted a program offering free low-flow toilets to its customers.
Los Angeles
The number of Stage 1 smog alerts in Los Angeles has declined from over 100 per year in the 1970s to almost zero in the new millennium. Despite improvement, the 2006 and 2007 annual reports of the American Lung Association ranked the city as the most polluted in the country with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. In 2008, the city was ranked the second most polluted and again had the highest year-round particulate pollution. The city met its goal of providing 20 percent of the city's power from renewable sources in 2010. The American Lung Association's 2013 survey ranks the metro area as having the nation's worst smog, and fourth in both short-term and year-round pollution amounts.
Environmental issues in New York
According to the American Lung Association's report "State of the Air 2012", Monroe County received a grade of 'C' for ground-level ozone. That means Monroe County had four orange-alert days. That's up from the 2011 report when we had got an 'F'> Back in 2004, Rochester was ranked 43rd worst metropolitan area for air quality. (Dirty Air, Dirty Power.) And, the last time the EPA measured Monroe County for ground-level ozone in 1997, we received a 'marginal' grade, up from the previous 'non attainment' grade.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is also home to the nation's largest urban oil field. There are more than 700 active oil wells within 1,500 feet of homes, churches, schools and hospitals in the city, a situation about which the EPA has voiced serious concerns.
Communities for a Better Environment
CBE uses their Community Based Participatory Research method in cities throughout California, focusing on northern and southern California. They focus on Richmond, California and East Oakland to make sure both cities have the resourced needed to reduce pollution. Richmond is known for the Chevron Richmond Refinery, emitting various carcinogens to the communities that surround it. Oakland is home to the Port of Oakland which emits particulate matter and various fumes from the diesel trucks that transport material to and from the location.CBE and two organizations conducted the research in the Richmond health survey and it showed that the chemical exposures in Richmond were extremely high. When contrasted with Bolinas, as seen in the case study, Richmond’s air pollution was far worse and this can be due to the Chevron Refinery. Chevron is the largest employer in town but as CBE research has shown, compared with the statewide average for all business activity oil refining creates ten times fewer jobs.CBE works with various southern California communities especially the most polluted in the country. The Los Angeles area, Riverside communities, San Bernardino, and Orange County were ranked the smoggiest area in the nation in 2012 when it comes to air pollution. CBE works with other cities in southern California like Wilmington, Huntington Park, and the various cities that surround the Interstate 710, to minimize the exposure from residents living near it. The Southern California offices are also well versed in community active with subgroups of youths joining CBE ranks to fight environmental injustice in their heavily impacted, people of color communities. Beginning in 1997, the sub-program Youth for Environmental Justice has extended in numbers over the past few year, displaying influence in California's capitol, Sacramento; to providing support to at the grassroot march in Paris 2016.
Hollywood Burbank Airport
Hollywood Burbank Airport, legally Bob Hope Airport, is a public airport northwest of downtown Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California. The airport serves the northern Greater Los Angeles area, including Glendale, Pasadena, and the San Fernando Valley. It is closer to Griffith Park and Hollywood than Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and is the only airport in the area with a direct rail connection to downtown Los Angeles. Non-stop flights mostly serve cities in the western United States, while JetBlue Airways has daily red-eye flights to New York City and Boston.
Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles
Tujunga's elevation and geographic isolation from the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles Basin freed it from some of the air pollution that was a problem in many other parts of Greater Los Angeles. Because of this, it attracted many asthmatics early on. In 1929, the Tujunga City Council set policy to establish zones where "sanitariums and other institutions for the care of tubercular patients" could be established.
History of Los Angeles
Beginning November 6, 1961, Los Angeles suffered three days of destructive bush fires. The Bel-Air—Brentwood and Santa Ynez fires destroyed 484 expensive homes and 21 other buildings along with 15,810 acres (64 km²) of brush in the Bel-Air, Brentwood, and Topanga Canyon neighborhoods. Most of the homes destroyed had wooden shake roofs, which not only led to their own loss but also sent firebrands up to three miles (5 km) away. Despite this, few changes were made to the building codes to prevent future losses.
Port of Los Angeles
As of May, 2016, the Lost Angeles Port has already surpassed its initial 2023 emission goals 8 years ahead of predicted time frame. The dramatic success to reduce emissions has seen a decrease in diesel particulate matter reduce 85%, sulfur oxides by 97%, and nitrogen oxide by 52% so far. The CAAP program was updated to 3.0 after this environmental successes of the initiatives. With the recent ramification of environment goals the updates will look to reduce the emissions through efficient supply chain optimization. There has also been recent developments to increase port technologies advancement to promote the development of efficient and green port technologies. The CAAP also looks to be the lead role caretaker of fostering and improving the wildlife and ecosystem of the port.
La Línea de la Concepción
In May 2014 a report by the World Health Organization showed that La Línea had the worst air quality in Spain. The report concentrated on PM10 and PM2.5 Pollutants in the air, which could only have come from the nearby Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery
, in the 2016 report by the World Health Organization, La Línea was the third worst place in Spain in terms of air quality.
Mike Bonin
Bonin maintains that early half of all trips taken in LA are less than three miles, and eighty-seven percent of those trips are taken by car. Bonin understands that we can improve our neighborhoods and protect the environment by making it easier and safer to walk and bike in LA, taking cars off the road and potential pollution out of the air. At Bonin's persistent urging, the City Council approved the Mobility Plan 2035 - a planning document that will create a bike network throughout Los Angeles and will improve how we plan and design our city to better protect bicyclists and pedestrians who opt not to rely on cars for transportation. Mike is also a champion of the city's Vision Zero commitment, which seeks to end traffic fatalities in LA by 2025 by reducing vehicle speeds on local streets and incorporating better street design to protect pedestrians from cars.
Clean Air Act (United States)
The Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) directs EPA to establish national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for pollutants at levels that will protect public health. EPA and American Lung Association promoted the 2011 Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) to control ozone and fine particles. Aim was to cut emissions half from 2005 to 2014. It was claimed to prevent each year 400,000 asthma cases and save ca 2m work and schooldays lost by respiratory illness. Some states (e.g. Texas), cities and power companies sued the case (EPA v EME Homer City Generation). The appeals-court judges decided by two to one that the rule is too strict. Based on appeals the power companies were allowed to continue thousands of persons respiratory illnesses prolonged time in the USA. According to the Economist (2013) the Supreme Court decision may affect how the EPA regulates other pollutants, including the greenhouse gases.
Air pollution in the United States
The result indicated that color community bear greater air pollution including NO2, PM 2.5, PM 10, and heat stress compared to predominantly white and more affluent community. In San Diego County, the relative heat stress inequality was founded to be the highest. Also, significant heat stress inequality was observed in Los Angeles. The result shows that in these two counties, there was a strong positive correlation between the percentage of Non-Whites in the community and heat stress inequality. However, in Alameda county, the result indicated an opposite pattern which indicates. The community with a higher White population experience more extreme temperature exceedances. This might be explained by the fact that White population and the more affluent class in Alameda County mainly lived in the eastern area further away from the coast, which resulted in the higher heat stress exposure.
Avgas
Final results from EPA's lead modeling study at the Santa Monica Airport shows off airport levels below current 150 ng/m and possible future 20 ng/m levels. 15 of 17 airports monitored during a year-long study in the USA by the EPA have lead emissions well below the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead.
Pollution in California
In 2017, researchers found that diabetes in Latino and Latina children living in Los Angeles is linked to air quality. A study led by the University of Southern California was the first of its kind to follow the health and residential air pollution levels of the same children over a span of several years. The subjects of the study were overweight Latino children, between the ages of eight and fifteen, residing in areas with excess particulate matter. In particular, the neighborhoods of the children were located in areas of elevated nitrogen dioxide levels, an air pollutant caused nearby power plants and high-volume vehicle traffic. The results demonstrated that the children possessed significantly increased risk factors for Type 2 diabetes by the time they turned eighteen, such as diminished efficiency in the insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas. The insulin resistance that results from such a condition is a direct cause of diabetes onset.
Bel Air, Los Angeles
This region experiences warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bel Air has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.
Los Angeles metropolitan area
The Long Beach–Los Angeles–Anaheim metropolitan statistical area is in the southern part of California. In 2014, the metro area’s population reached 13,262,220 and ranked second in the United States – a 1 percent increase from 2013.[1] In 2014, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $50,751 and ranked 29th in the country. [2]
Air pollution in the United States
In February 2016, the city of Oakland publicly announced construction plans for the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, a bulk exporting facility in West Oakland. As a predominantly Latino and African-American community, the residents of West Oakland live in a community that suffers from dangerous levels of air pollution. The construction of this port and its proposed partnership with Utah's coal-mining counties would rank the city as the lead coal exporter on the West Coast. To fund such a goliath project in the face of strong resistance from city councils fighting to protect their local communities from drastically increasing pollution emissions, Utah state and county officials arranged a controversial $53 million loan. The fund, composed of taxpayer dollars intended for local projects, would allow for the annual shipping of 9 million tons of coal through Oakland and an increase in national coal exports by 19%. A movement by environmental advocates quickly grew, citing that exposure to toxic coal dust would also subject the city's residents to increased risks of bronchitis, pneumonia, heart disease, emphysema, and more.
Los Angeles
Race relations
Los Angeles
The main international and domestic airport serving Los Angeles is Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to by its airport code, LAX.
Port of Long Beach
In 2007, the Port of Long Beach continued its environmental efforts by implementing the Clean Air Action Plan, an air quality program adopted by the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. In recognition, the Clean Air Action Plan was given the most prestigious award from the American Association of Port Authorities, the Environmental Management Award, in 2007.
Salinas, California
Salinas is in the top ten American cities for cleanest air quality, because the offshore marine layer generates winds that blow smog further inland.
Center on Race, Poverty &amp; the Environment
In "CRPE vs. San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District", CRPE sued the Air District, a government organization committed to protecting air quality in San Joaquin, for failing to meet air quality standards for ozone set by the Clean Air Act for three consecutive years. The ozone problem has prevented the San Joaquin Valley, a region home to many Hispanic and Latino farmworkers, from having healthy air since the 1970s, mostly due to the Air District's inability to implement ozone pollution control measures that would reduce ozone emissions by regulating emissions of VOCs and NOx, ozone creating chemicals. Eventually, the Air District settled the lawsuit, promising to implement the measures. Since the case was settled, the amount of ozone in the community has been reduced.
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica usually enjoys cool breezes blowing in from the ocean, which tend to keep the air fresh and clean. Therefore, smog is less of a problem for Santa Monica than elsewhere around Los Angeles. However, in the autumn months of September through November, the Santa Ana winds will sometimes blow from the east, bringing smoggy and hot inland air to the beaches.
Air pollution
Air pollution is usually concentrated in densely populated metropolitan areas, especially in developing countries where environmental regulations are relatively lax or nonexistent. However, even populated areas in developed countries attain unhealthy levels of pollution, with Los Angeles and Rome being two examples. Between 2002 and 2011 the incidence of lung cancer in Beijing near doubled. While smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer in China, the number of smokers is falling while lung cancer rates are rising. Another project focusing on the effects on pollution in vegetation has been researched by the local university in Sheffield, UK.
Porterville, California
Owing to geography, heavy reliance on automobiles and agriculture, Porterville suffers from air pollution in the form of smog. The Porterville area and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley are susceptible to atmospheric inversion, which holds in the exhausts from road vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, agriculture, manufacturing and other sources. Unlike other cities that rely on rain to clear smog, Porterville gets only of rain each year: pollution accumulates over many consecutive days. Issues of air quality in Porterville and other major cities led to the passage of early national environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act. More recently, the state of California has led the nation in working to limit pollution by mandating low-emission vehicles. Smog levels are only high during summers because it is dry and warm. In the winter storms help to clear the smog and it is not as much of a problem. Smog should continue to drop in the coming years due to aggressive steps to reduce it, electric and hybrid cars and other pollution-reducing measures taken.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is in a large basin bounded by the Pacific Ocean on one side and by mountains as high as on the others. The city proper, which covers about , is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the country. Los Angeles is also the principal city of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second largest in the United States after that of New York City, with a population of 13.1 million. It is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area, also the nation's second most populous area with a 2015 estimated population of 18.7 million.
Pollution in California
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's interactive online map - EJSCREEN - features the low socioeconomic communities across the country that are more vulnerable to air pollution and its associated health risks. As exhibited in this map, Southeast Los Angeles County neighborhoods, primarily impoverished areas in the San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire, face a higher exposure to air pollution and environmental injustices. In such areas, those in poverty stricken areas have an unequal access to environmental health and safety resources. These poverty-stricken neighborhoods are frequently located in areas that are near freeways, hazardous facilities, and/or rail yards.
Air pollution in the United States
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's interactive online map - EJSCREEN - features the low socioeconomic communities across the country that are more vulnerable to air pollution and its associated health risks. As exhibited in this map, Southeast Los Angeles County neighborhoods, primarily impoverished areas in the San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire, face a higher exposure to air pollution and environmental injustices. In such areas, those in poverty stricken areas have an unequal access to environmental health and safety resources. These poverty-stricken neighborhoods are frequently located in areas that are near freeways, hazardous facilities, and/or rail yards.
Bakersfield, California
In 2017 Bakersfield had 23 days with "Unhealthy" air quality according to the EPA. Fourteen of those days were caused by the Thomas Fire located in adjacent Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. During that fire, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties experienced "Very Unhealthy" and "Hazardous" air quality.
Air pollution in the United States
Environmental racism can be defined as any practice of environmental injustice that disproportionately affects minority neighborhoods and communities. Not only is the California population incredibly racially diverse, but because California is the primary air polluter and consequently spends extra time, money and resources to develop technologies that ensure air pollution doesn't become detrimental to the environment, its climate policy is one of the most technologically important in the developed world. As of March 2017, the Trump Administration is expected to withdraw the federal waiver that gives the Environmental Protection Agency and California the power to efficiently monitor and regulate greenhouse-gas pollution from car tailpipes. Environmental agents and environmental rights activists foreshadow that this action will certainly spell trouble for California's important climate policy; as well as further worsen the disproportionate spread of negative environmental health problems to neighborhoods of color throughout counties in California statewide.
California Air Resources Board
The CARB Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program was enacted by the California government to promote the use of zero emission vehicles. The program goal is to reduce the pervasive air pollution affecting the main metropolitan areas in the state, particularly in Los Angeles, where prolonged pollution episodes are frequent. The California ZEV rule was first adopted by CARB as part of the 1990 Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV I) Program. The focus of the 1990 rules (ZEV-90) was to meet air quality standards for ozone rather than the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), located in the Westchester district, is the primary commercial airport for commercial airlines in the county and the Greater Los Angeles Area. LAX is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), an agency of the City of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
Environment
Pollution in California
In response, thousands of Oakland residents and environmental rights activists worked together to prevent the construction of the coal terminal at the former Oakland Army Base. In July 2016, Oakland City Council voted to ban coal from being handled and stored in the City of Oakland. The decision marked a large victory for the newly established Department of Race and Equity, an organization designed to protect Oakland's predominanty African-American community from social and racial disparities. According to the "Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States" report issued by the East Bay Community Foundation, those living in West Oakland already encounter five times more toxic pollution per person than residents of the city of Oakland, and children living in West Oakland are seven times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma than the average child in California. The residents of West Oakland are more likely to face both decreased life expectancy and asthma-related emergency room visits. For a city already bearing a disproportionate amount of environmental burdens, the fight for a coal-free Oakland was a success for proponents of environmental justice.
Santa Barbara County, California
Air quality in the county, unlike much of southern California, is generally good because of the prevailing winds off of the Pacific Ocean. The county is in attainment of federal standards for ozone and particulate matter, but exceeds state standards for these pollutants. Sometimes in late summer and early autumn there are days with higher ozone levels; usually this occurs when there is a low inversion layer under a stagnant air mass, which traps pollutants underneath. In these cases a traveler into the mountains encounters a curious paradox: the temperature rises as altitude increases. On these days the visibility from the higher summits may be more than a hundred miles, while the population on the coastal plain experiences haze and smog.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia County received an ozone grade of F and a 24-hour particle pollution rating of D in the American Lung Association's 2017 State of the Air report, which analyzed data from 2013–15. The city was ranked 22nd for ozone, 20th for short-term particle pollution, and 11th for year-round particle pollution. According to the same report, the city experienced a significant reduction in high ozone days since 2001—from nearly 50 days per year to fewer than 10—along with fewer days of high particle pollution since 2000—from about 19 days per year to about 3—and an approximate 30% reduction in annual levels of particle pollution since 2000. Five of the ten largest combined statistical areas (CSAs) were ranked higher for ozone: Los Angeles (1st), New York City (9th), Houston (12th), Dallas (13th), and San Jose (18th). Many smaller CSAs were also ranked higher for ozone including Sacramento (8th), Las Vegas (10th), Denver (11th), El Paso (16th), and Salt Lake City (20th); however, only two of those same ten CSAs—San Jose and Los Angeles—were ranked higher than Philadelphia for both year-round and short-term particle pollution.
Kenneth Hahn
Smog, 1949. The council adopted Hahn's resolution asking Air Pollution Control Director Gordon P. Larson to appear before it to report on the worsening smog situation in Los Angeles. "The entire smog program seems to have bogged down," he said. "Yesterday it was almost impossible to breathe in my office, and I am informed that some places had to shut down completely."
Air Pollution Control Act
California was the first state to act against air pollution when the metropolis of Los Angeles began to notice deteriorating air quality. The location of Los Angeles furthered the problem as several geographical and meteorological problems unique to the area exacerbated the air pollution problem.
Air pollution
A new economic study of the health impacts and associated costs of air pollution in the Los Angeles Basin and San Joaquin Valley of Southern California shows that more than 3,800 people die prematurely (approximately 14 years earlier than normal) each year because air pollution levels violate federal standards. The number of annual premature deaths is considerably higher than the fatalities related to auto collisions in the same area, which average fewer than 2,000 per year.
California Smog Check Program
Between 2005 and 2007 air pollution led to almost 30,000 hospital and emergency room visits in California for asthma, pneumonia, and other respiratory and cardiovascular ailments. A study by RAND Corporation showed the cost to the state, federal and private health insurers was over $193 million in hospital-based medical care. John Romley lead author of the study. said "California's failure to meet air pollution standards causes a large amount of expensive hospital care." According to the American Lung Association, California's dirty air causes 19,000 premature deaths, 9,400 hospitalizations and more than 300,000 respiratory illnesses including asthma and acute bronchitis.
Yeallow
Los Angeles
IQAir
Mira Loma Village in Southern California suffers from some of the highest levels of air pollution in the United States. The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), a leading environmental justice advocacy group, took action by filing a lawsuit against the county, the city and local developers. In early 2013, a settlement was reached that provided funding to help residents of Mira Loma Village breathe cleaner air. As part of the settlement, IQAir provided stand-alone air purifiers to 90 Mira Loma homes. IQAir was selected based on its previous partnership with CAAEJ to provide clean-air technologies for schools and community buildings in nearby San Bernardino, California.
Angeles, Philippines
Under the Köppen climate classification system, Angeles has a tropical savanna climate that borders on a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification Aw/Am).
Angeles experiences two distinct seasons: a dry season from December through April, with a wet season from May through November. From 1953 to 1991, the mean daily low was 73.6 °F and the mean daily high was 88.1 °F, with June being warmest and January and February being the coolest. The average annual rainfall is 78.39 inches. Typhoons tend to approach from the east during the summer and fall. Many damaging storms struck the city, including Typhoon Irma on 28 November 1974 (generally considered to be the strongest one); Typhoon Rita on 27 October 1978; Typhoon Irma (the name was reused) on 24 November 1981; Typhoon Ruby on 25 October 1988; and Typhoon Yunya on 15 June 1991 which coincided with the Mount Pinatubo blast. In July 1972, Central Luzon experienced a month of nearly continuous rain, resulting in 96 inches falling on the plain around Angeles.
Climate of Los Angeles
The Climate of Los Angeles is a year-round mild-to-hot and mostly dry climate for the LA metropolitan area in California. The climate is classified as a Mediterranean climate, which is a type of dry subtropical climate. It is characterized by seasonal changes in rainfall—with a dry summer and a winter rainy season. Under the modified Köppen climate classification, the coastal areas are classified as "Csb", and the inland areas as "Csa".
Los Angeles
The Los Angeles area is also subject to phenomena typical of a microclimate, causing extreme variations in temperature in close physical proximity to each other. For example, the average July maximum temperature at the Santa Monica Pier is whereas it is in Canoga Park. The city, like much of the southern California coast, is subject to a late spring/early summer weather phenomenon called "June Gloom". This involves overcast or foggy skies in the morning which yield to sun by early afternoon.
Interstate 405 (California)
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles used the closure of I-405 to study particulate matter air pollution. The researchers took air samples before, during, and after the closure. The researchers found an 83% reduction in ultrafine particles, 55% reduction in fine particle matter, and 62% less black carbon.
Mexico City
By the 1990s Mexico City had become infamous as one of the world's most polluted cities; however, the city has become a model for drastically lowering pollution levels. By 2014 carbon monoxide pollution had dropped drastically, while levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide were nearly three times lower than in 1992. The levels of signature pollutants in Mexico City are similar to those of Los Angeles. Despite the cleanup, the metropolitan area is still the most ozone-polluted part of the country, with ozone levels 2.5 times beyond WHO-defined safe limits.
Air pollution in the United States
The spatial arrangement of Californian communities plays a large role in determining exposure to the concentrated air pollution of the state's southern regions. In one suburb of Los Angeles, El Marino Language School sits adjacent to the ten-lane Interstate 405. Students of schools like these, often elementary-aged, are subject to dramatically increased levels of pollution from automobile emissions, including carcinogenic compounds. Health effects of traffic pollution include the onset of cardiovascular disease, asthma, impaired lung function, premature death, and a plethora of other complications. Furthermore, the incomplete development of children's sensitive respiratory systems leads to compounded effects of air pollution when compared with the health effects of the same pollution on adults.
Port of Long Beach
The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are, together, the single largest source of air pollution in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. Both ports have implemented a number of environmental programs to reduce pollution levels while continuing port growth.
Arnold Orville Beckman
The Air Pollution Control Officer in question was Louis McCabe, a geologist with a background in chemical engineering. McCabe initially suspected that smog was a result of sulfur dioxide pollution, and proposed that the county convert the suspected pollutant into fertilizer through a costly process. Beckman was not convinced that sulfur dioxide was the real culprit behind Los Angeles smog. He visited Gary, Indiana, where steps were being taken to address sulfur dioxide pollution, and was struck by the characteristic smell of sulfur in the air. Returning, Beckman convinced McCabe that they needed to search for a different cause.
October 2007 California wildfires
The concentration of particulate matter 10 micrometers and smaller (designated PM10) reached unhealthy levels as a result of the fires. PM10 particles are small enough to enter deep into the lungs, and possibly the bloodstream. San Diego city attorney Michael Aguirre, citing concerns over weather conditions and air quality, urged the city to consider a voluntary evacuation of the entire city.
Cerritos, California
Cerritos also has a unique "semi-marine" climate pattern within Los Angeles County. The fog that typically covers the beach cities rarely reaches Cerritos, but the breeze that comes along the San Gabriel River from the Pacific Ocean has a significant cooling effect. As a result, Cerritos is rarely affected by the smog, Santa Ana winds and smothering heat of the Los Angeles Basin.
IQAir
Air purification at the Los Angeles Zoo
Greater Los Angeles
Los Angeles has a long-standing reputation for sprawl. The area is in fact sprawling, but according to the 2000 census, the "Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim" Urbanized Area (but not counting the portions of the Inland Empire in the Greater Los Angeles Area) had a population density of , covering of land area, making it the most densely populated Urbanized Area (as defined by the United States Census Bureau) in the United States. For comparison, the "New York–Newark" Urbanized Area as a whole had a population density of , covering of land area.
Visalia, California
Owing to geography and heavy reliance on automobiles, Visalia suffers from air pollution in the form of smog and other particulates. The Visalia area and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley are susceptible to atmospheric inversion, which holds in the exhausts from road vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, manufacturing, and other sources. Unlike other cities that rely on rain to clear smog, Visalia gets only of rain each year: pollution accumulates over many consecutive days. Issues of air quality in Visalia and other major cities led to the passage of early national environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act. More recently, the state of California has led the nation in working to limit pollution by mandating low emission vehicles. Particulate pollution can also be high during the winter due to frequent low level inversions and during longer periods of dry weather. The same low level inversions that cause high pollution levels in the winter are the reason for the frequent dense fog, locally known as Tule Fog.
South Coast Air Basin
The South Coast Air Basin—SCAB (or SoCAB) is one of several regional air basin areas designated by the state of California, for the purpose of air quality management and air pollution control in Southern California. The SCAB district was created in 1969. and includes all of Orange County and 
the non-desert regions of Los Angeles County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County.
The region covers approximately 17100 km and includes much of the Greater Los Angeles Area which is home to approximately 18 million people.
Christchurch
On cold winter nights, the surrounding hills, clear skies, and frosty calm conditions often combine to form a stable inversion layer above the city that traps vehicle exhausts and smoke from domestic fires to cause smog. While not as bad as smog in Los Angeles or Mexico City, Christchurch smog has often exceeded World Health Organisation recommendations for air pollution. To limit air pollution, the regional council banned the use of open fires in the city in 2006. In 2008 council prohibited the use of woodburners more than 15 years old, while making funding available to upgrade domestic home heating systems.
Air pollution in the United States
Helping the area to meet the national air quality standards and improve the health of local residents continues to be a priority for the EPA. One of EPA's highest priorities is to support the reduction of diesel emissions from ships, trucks, locomotives, and other diesel engines. In 2005, Congress authorized funding for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), a grant program, administrated by the EPA, to selectively retrofit or replace the older diesel engines most likely to impact human health. Since 2008, the DERA program has achieved impressive out outcome of improving air quality. The EPA also works with state and local partners to decrease emissions from port operations and to improve the efficient transportation of goods through the region. Both the EPA and the Port of Los Angeles are partners of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, a sweeping plan aimed at significantly reducing the health risks posed by air pollution from port-related ships, trains, trucks, terminal equipment and harbor craft. For environmental justice, air pollution in low-income LA communities has received more attention. In 2011, the “Clean up Green up” campaign was launched to designate four low-income LA communities- Pacoima, Boyle Heights and Wilmington. This campaign aims to push green industries through incentives, including help obtaining permits and tax and utility rebates.
Long Beach, California
Long Beach suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the entire United States. Most of the city is in proximity to the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the prevailing westerly-to-west-south-westerly winds bring a large portion of the twin ports' air pollution directly into Long Beach before dispersing it northward then eastward. Heavy pollution sources at the ports include the ships themselves, which burn high-sulfur, high-soot-producing bunker fuel to maintain internal electrical power while docked, as well as heavy diesel pollution from drayage trucks at the ports, and short-haul tractor-trailer trucks ferrying cargo from the ports to inland warehousing, rail yards, and shipping centers. Long-term average levels of toxic air pollutants (and the corresponding carcinogenic risk they create) can be two to three times higher in and around Long Beach, and in downwind areas to the east, than in other parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, such as the Westside, San Fernando Valley, or San Gabriel Valley. While overall regional pollution in the Los Angeles metropolitan area has declined in the last decade, pollution levels remain dangerously high in much of Long Beach due to the port pollution, with diesel exhaust from ships, trains, and trucks as the largest sources.
Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles
In the 1950s through the 1970s, the area was known as a "haven for asthma sufferers" and that it was "long noted for the beneficial qualities of its pure air" and had a "reputation as a health resort" or a "reputation for clean mountain air." Tujunga was seen as having a "near-Switzerland setting – high and dry."
Air pollution in the United States
An outpouring of fugitive dust layered with man-made sulfates, smog, industrial fumes, carbon grit, and nitrates is crossing the Pacific Ocean on prevailing winds from booming Asian economies in plumes so vast they alter the climate. Almost a third of the air over Los Angeles and San Francisco can be traced directly to Asia. With it comes up to three-quarters of the black carbon particulate pollution that reaches the West Coast.
Smog
Because of their locations in low basins surrounded by mountains, Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley are notorious for their smog. The over-reliance on vehicles for transportation in these regions, combined with the additional effects of the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles/Long Beach port complexes, frequently contribute to further air pollution.
Lennox, California
In 2014, an air quality study found harmful ultrafine particles from the takeoffs and landings at Los Angeles International Airport to be much greater magnitude than previously thought.
Las Vegas Valley
Having part of the region in a desert basin creates issues with air quality. From the dust the wind picks up, to the smog produced by vehicles, to the pollen in the air, the valley has several bad air days.
Air pollution in the United States
In 2017, researchers found that diabetes in Latino children living in Los Angeles is linked to air quality. A study led by the University of Southern California was the first of its kind to follow the health and residential air pollution levels of the same children over a span of several years. The subjects of the study were overweight Latino children, between the ages of eight and fifteen, residing in areas with elevated particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide levels, air pollutants caused nearby power plants and high-volume vehicle traffic. The results demonstrated that the children possessed significantly increased risk factors for Type 2 diabetes by the time they turned eighteen, such as diminished efficiency in the insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas. The insulin resistance that results from such a condition is a direct cause of diabetes onset.
Air pollution
In the United States, despite the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970, in 2002 at least 146 million Americans were living in non-attainment areas—regions in which the concentration of certain air pollutants exceeded federal standards. These dangerous pollutants are known as the criteria pollutants, and include ozone, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead.
Protective measures to ensure children's health are being taken in cities such as New Delhi, India where buses now use compressed natural gas to help eliminate the "pea-soup" smog. A recent study in Europe has found that exposure to ultrafine particles can increase blood pressure in children.
According to a WHO report-2018, polluted air is a main cause poisoning millions of children under the age of 15 years and ruining their lives which resulting to death of some six hundred thousand children annually.
2011–12 Los Angeles arson attacks
The 2011–2012 Los Angeles arson attacks were a series of fires started on December 29, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. It was the worst case of arson reported in the area since the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Harry Burkhart, then 24, who was wanted in Germany on suspicion of burning down his home, was charged in Los Angeles in January 2012 with 28 counts of arson of property and nine counts of arson of an inhabited structure. Prosecutors said that Burkhart was "motivated by rage against Americans" and sought to terrorize as many people as possible when he torched dozens of cars, homes and garages late at night, when most residents were sleeping, to inflict maximum fear and damage.
2018 California wildfires
Northern California and the Central Valley saw drastic increases in air pollutants during the height of the July and August fires, while Southern California also experienced an increase in air pollution in August. Air quality in Northern and Central California remained poor until mid-September 2018, when fire activity was drastically diminished. However, during the November Camp Fire, air quality diminished again, with the majority of the Bay being subjected to air quality indexes (AQIs) of 200 and above, in the "unhealthy" region.
Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 568 U.S. 78 (2013), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Natural Resources Defense Council and Santa Monica Baykeeper challenged the Los Angeles County Flood Control District (District) for violating the terms of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit as shown in water quality measurements from monitoring stations within the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers. The Supreme Court, by a unanimous 9-0 vote, reversed and remanded the Ninth Circuit's ruling on the grounds that the flow of water from an improved portion of a navigable waterway into an unimproved portion of the same waterway does not qualify as a "discharge of a pollutant" under the Clean Water Act.
Lead contamination in Oakland
Lead contamination in Oakland represents a serious and persistent public health threat. Significant portions of the City of Oakland, California have soil lead levels far in excess of 400 ppm, the level that the US EPA suggests remedial action be taken at, and far higher than 80 ppm, the level that California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment suggests action should be taken at. Lead contamination in modern Oakland comes from three primary sources: remnants from previous industry, deposits from pre-ban leaded gasoline, and paint chips from pre-ban leaded paints. Not all areas of Oakland are affected equally: West Oakland's contamination is especially severe, particularly near the former Oakland Army Base, and many of Oakland's poorer neighborhoods also suffer disproportionately (since residents often lack the socioeconomic resources to remediate their lawns, or even to repaint their houses).
Clean Air Act (United States)
Below is a table for the sources of greenhouse gases, taken from data in 2008. Of all greenhouse gases, about 76 percent of the sources are manageable under the CAA, marked with an asterisk (*). All others are regulated independently, if at all.
By promoting pollution reduction, the Clean Air Act can help reduce heightened exposure to air pollution among communities of color and low-income communities. Environmental researcher Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda notes that African American populations are “consistently over represented” in areas with the poorest air quality. Dense populations of low-income and minority communities inhabit the most polluted areas across the United States, which is considered to exacerbate health problems among these populations. High levels of exposure to air pollution is linked to several health conditions, including asthma, cancer, premature death, and infant mortality, each of which disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income communities. The pollution reduction achieved by the Clean Air Act is associated with a decline in each of these conditions and can promote environmental justice for communities that are disproportionately impacted by air pollution and diminished health status.
Air pollution in the United States
Although Los Angeles air pollution level had declined slightly for the last few decades, citizens in Los Angeles still suffer from high level air pollution and current levels are back to where they were 10 years ago.
Environmental issues in Fresno, California
Smog, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gases such as methane are vital contributors to global warming and the cause of various health issues. To understand the environmental issue of air pollution within the Central Valley but specifically Fresno, it is best to understand where Fresno is geographically located. Fresno is a region surrounded by mountain ranges and acts as a pool of emissions, trapped in the Central Valley by warm air that comes from its roughly 3.5 million residents. Because of this, Fresno’s air quality is considered to be the worst in the region of the Central Valley and among the worst in the U.S.Two types of air pollution dominate in the U.S.: ozone and particle pollution. These two pollutants threaten the health and the lives of millions of Americans. Thanks to the Clean Air Act, the U.S. has far less of both pollutants now than in the past. Still, more than 166 million people live in counties where monitors show unhealthy levels of one or both—meaning the air a family breathes could shorten life or cause lung cancer.
2008 California wildfires
Some areas endured record levels of air pollution, along with hazardous concentrations of particulate matter. These smoky and hazy conditions prompted health officials to issue air quality advisories and warnings, as particulate matter reached unhealthy levels in the North Bay on June 25. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District urged the elderly and people with respiratory problems to stay indoors. In spite of the warnings, health officials noted a jump in the number of people with eye and throat irritation. The bad air quality also forced the cancellation of the Western States Endurance Run, the first in the race's 31-year history. Air quality began to improve on June 28, followed by decreased smoke and improved visibility a day later. By June 30, residents in the Sacramento Valley saw blue skies and good air quality, as a result of onshore winds and the Delta breezes.
Climate of Los Angeles
Los Angeles is a hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csa"), with hot, dry summers, and cooler wetter winters. While the typical dry-summer and wet-winter pattern typical of most Mediterranean climates is part of the climate of Los Angeles, precipitation annually is lower than in many typical Mediterranean climates.
Toxic hotspot
Los Angeles is known for the nation's worst air quality and its “sharp inequalities in environmental exposures”. Wilmington, Los Angeles is a neighborhood located on the southern part of Los Angeles, California. 54,512 people live in Wilmington, the median household income is $40,627, about 86 percentage of them are Latino and only 5.1% of Wilmington residents 25 or older have a four-year degree.
Los Angeles bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics
Los Angeles is also known as The Entertainment Capital of the World with Hollywood and its beautiful beaches makes it a wonderful summer city for the games which is seen as a plus for the city. The Los Angeles area, recognized by its sprawling urban terrain, is one of the world's most important centers of culture, science, technology, international trade, and higher education, and is home to numerous world-renowned institutions in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. The city and its immediate surrounding vicinity leads the world in producing popular entertainment—such as motion pictures, television, and recorded music—which forms the base of its international fame and global status.
Mountain View Oil Field
Air quality in the vicinity of the oil field, and in Kern County in general, is among the worst in the United States. In 2009 Kern County had the worst particulate pollution in the U.S., and was second-worst for ozone, after Los Angeles.
Long Beach, California
Long Beach, depending on the reporting location, has a Mediterranean climate, with strong semi-arid climate characteristics. In general, the city features warm to hot, dry summers and mild, damp winters. Days in Long Beach are mostly sunny, as in Southern California in general. Temperatures recorded at the weather station at the Long Beach Airport, inland from the ocean, range more greatly than those along the immediate coast. During the summer months, low clouds and fog occur frequently, developing overnight and blanketing the area on many mornings. This fog usually clears by the afternoon, and a westerly sea breeze often develops, keeping temperatures mild. Heat and humidity rarely coincide, making heat waves more tolerable than they would be otherwise.
California Smog Check Program
More people in California live in areas that do not meet federal clean air standards than in any other state. A report by the American Lung Association states that some areas in California are the most polluted in the United States, with air quality that is likely damaging the health of millions of people. The report finds that Los Angeles, Bakersfield (CA), and Visalia-Porterville (CA) rank among the five U.S. cities most polluted with particulates and ozone.
Air pollution in Mexico City
In 2012 ozone and other air pollutants ranked at about the same level as Los Angeles. This improvement in air quality was achieved, starting in the 1980s, through the Mexican government's requirement that gasoline be reformulated, that polluting factories be closed or moved, and that drivers be prohibited from using their car one day per week. More recently there has been an expansion of public transportation. Air pollution has been a major issue in Mexico City for decades.
Air pollution in the United States
Air pollution in Los Angeles has caused widespread concerns. In 2011, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Survey on Californians and the Environment showed that 45% of citizens in Los Angeles consider air pollution to be a “big problem”, and 47% believe that the air quality of Los Angeles is worse than it was 10 years ago. In 2013, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside area ranked the 1st most ozone-polluted city, the 4th most polluted city by annual particle pollution, and the 4th most polluted city by 24-hour particle pollution.
Air pollution in the United States
In 2012, this research used the method of cumulative environmental hazard inequality Index (CEHII), which is a model developed to environmental inequality in air pollution hazards., to analyze the environmental inequality in three counties in California: Alameda, San Diego and Los Angeles (Jason et al. 2012). In addition to frequently used air pollution parameter like NO2, PM 2.5 and diesel PM, a metric of heat stress was included for the analysis because excessive heat weather comes to be an environmental problem that can threaten human health.
Owens Valley
In July 2004, Los Angeles mayor James Hahn proposed barring all future development on its Owens Valley holdings, by proposing a conservation easement for all LADWP land. As of October 2004, Inyo County officials seemed to be resisting the offer of the easement, perhaps due to the prior history of mistrust over LADWP actions. Los Angeles began using a new, organic method of suppressing airborne dust from the dry bed of Owens Lake in 2014 pursuant to an agreement between the city and Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, the Owens Valley air quality regulators, ending a bitter decades-long dispute over the water and dust.
Downtown Los Angeles
Los Angeles World Airports operates a direct shuttle every 30–60 minutes between Union Station and Los Angeles International Airport.Downtown Los Angeles is home to several public parks, plazas, gardens and other open space:
Long Beach Airport
Located near the Los Angeles County and Orange County borders, Long Beach Airport serves the Los Angeles MSA. The airport operates commercial passenger, cargo, military, and general aviation activities. The airport is under one of the strictest ordinances in the United States on airport noise which set limits on the amount of noise the airport activities are allowed to create.
California Senate Bill 535
People who live in communities of color, low-income, and disadvantaged communities face health disparities due to poor air quality. Many of these communities are located near industries and means of transportation that cause a large amount of pollution to affect these areas. There is a greater abundance of harmful particulate matter in air pollution around these non-white and poorer communities than in white and wealthier communities. People who live near refineries are more likely to breathe in nickel and vanadium, and those living coal power plants are more likely to breathe in contents of high sulfate. Also, those who live near means of transportation such as busy highways are exposed to nitrates from vehicle exhaust. 
SB 535 is an example of environmental justice because it creates a solution to help these communities that have been affected by health disparities from the high exposures of “not only carbon dioxide, but also soot, methane, carbon monoxide and ozone. Many of these pollutants are associated with cancer, low birth weights, heart attacks, as well as respiratory problems like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.” 
In addition, SB 535 guarantees that 10% of the 25% of money collected from the revenue can be directed towards reducing pollution and lessening the harmful health impacts from greenhouse gas emissions. Supporters of the SB 535 bill such as the American Lung Association and Regional Asthma Management and Prevention (RAMP) are making efforts to fight the health disparities that are a result from the polluting air.
Pollution in California
The history of California's pollution dates back to 1943, when people first recognized episodes of smog causing irritated eyes, burning lungs, and nausea. Beginning in 1967, a group of California politicians and leaders teamed up to unify statewide efforts to address the severe air pollution, creating The Mulford-Carrell Air Resources Act, which formed the California Air Resources Board (CARB). That same year, the Federal Air Quality Act of 1967 was enacted, which allowed California to set more stringent air quality rules due to its unique conditions of geography, weather, and growing population. Despite dramatic progress, air pollution in the United States, and California in particular, continues to harm people's health and environment. Under the Clean Air Act (United States) of 1970, the EPA works with state and local governments and federal agencies to reduce air pollution and limit the damage that is causes. The Act was amended in 1977 and 1990, establishing emission standards that require the maximum degree of reduction of hazardous air pollutants.
2007 California wildfires
The concentration of particulate matter 10 micrometers and smaller (designated PM10) reached unhealthy levels as a result of the fires. PM10 particles are small enough to enter deep into the lungs, and possibly the bloodstream. San Diego city attorney Michael Aguirre, citing concerns over weather conditions and air quality, urged the city to consider a voluntary evacuation of the entire city.
Southern California
Los Angeles
Smog
Los Angeles in particular is strongly predisposed to accumulation of smog, because of peculiarities of its geography and weather patterns. Los Angeles is situated in a flat basin with ocean on one side and mountain ranges on three sides. A nearby cold ocean current depresses surface air temperatures in the area, resulting in an inversion layer: a phenomenon where air temperature increases, instead of decreasing, with altitude, suppressing thermals and restricting vertical convection. All taken together, this results in a relatively thin, enclosed layer of air above the city that cannot easily escape out of the basin and tends to accumulate pollution.
Visalia, California
As a result, pollution levels have dropped in recent decades. The number of Stage 1 smog alerts has declined from over 100 per year in the 1970s to almost zero in the new millennium. Despite improvement, the 2006 annual report of the American Lung Association ranked the city as the 11th most polluted in the country with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. In 2007 the annual report of the American Lung Association ranked the city as the 4th most polluted in the country with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. In 2008, the city was ranked the third most polluted and again fourth for highest year-round particulate pollution.
Pittsburgh
In a 2013 ranking of 277 metropolitan areas in the United States, the American Lung Association (ALA) ranked only six U.S. metro areas as having higher amounts of short-term particle pollution, and only seven U.S. metro areas having higher amounts of year-round particle pollution than Pittsburgh. For ozone (smog) pollution, Pittsburgh was ranked 24th among U.S. metro areas. The area has improved its air quality with every annual survey. The ALA's rankings have been disputed by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), since data from only the worst of the region's 20 air quality monitors is considered by the ALA, without any context or averaging. The lone monitor used is immediately downwind and adjacent to U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, the nation's largest coke mill, and several municipalities outside the city's jurisdiction of pollution controls, leading to possible confusion that Pittsburgh is the source or center of the emissions cited in the survey. The region's readings also reflect pollution swept in from Ohio and West Virginia.
Janice Hahn
Hahn cites her efforts to clean up the Port of Los Angeles as one of her main accomplishments while on the City Council. The 2006 Clean Air Action Plan, which she and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pushed forward, set a goal of reducing pollution by 45 percent within five years and shifted the movement of goods at the ports to off-peak traffic hours. Hahn supported the addition of the Clean Trucks Program that requires the 16,000 diesel trucks serving the ports meet 2007 EPA emission standards within five years. She has noted that the ports have been Southern California's largest emitter of greenhouse gasses and diesel emissions and that the Clean Trucks Program also provides for improved working conditions, wages and benefits for port truckers. Prior to the Clean Air Action Plan, she had already shifted about 35% of goods to be moved during off-peak hours. Hahn also helped advance redevelopment projects at the Port of Los Angeles in both San Pedro and Wilmington.
Toxic hotspot
Wilmington, most of its residents are ethnic minorities, is possible to bear more environmental burden than other communities in Los Angeles because it is located next to several sources of air pollution. For example, Wilmington has "the highest concentration of refineries in the State". Emissions from refineries in Wilmington include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and benzene. Wilmington has higher concentration of diesel particulate matter due to emissions from diesel trucks from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The risks associated with diesel are often underestimated since existing epidemiological studies cannot isolate exposure to diesel PM. However, exposure to diesel particulate matter can cause “irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs”, asthma, “exhaust immunological effects”, and cancer.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification "Csb" on the coast, "Csa" inland), and receives just enough annual precipitation to avoid Köppen's "BSh" (semi-arid climate) classification. Los Angeles has plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually. The coastal region around Los Angeles has a climate comparable to coastal areas of southeastern Spain such as Alicante or Elche, in temperature range and variation, in sunshine hours and as well as annual precipitation levels.
Smog
Due to its location in a highland "bowl", cold air sinks down onto the urban area of Mexico City, trapping industrial and vehicle pollution underneath, and turning it into the most infamously smog-plagued city of Latin America. Within one generation, the city has changed from being known for some of the cleanest air of the world into one with some of the worst pollution, with pollutants like nitrogen dioxide being double or even triple international standards.
Similar to Mexico City, the air pollution of Santiago valley, located between the Andes and the Chilean Coast Range, turn it into the most infamously smog-plagued city of South America. Other aggravates of the situation reside in its high latitude (31 degrees South) and dry weather during most of the year.
Emission standard
The United States has its own set of emissions standards that all new vehicles must meet. In the United States, emissions standards are managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under federal law, the state of California is allowed to promulgate more stringent vehicle emissions standards (subject to EPA approval), and other states may choose to follow either the national or California standards. California had produced air quality standards prior to EPA, with severe air quality problems in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. LA is the country's second-largest city, and relies much more heavily on automobiles and has less favorable meteorological conditions than the largest and third-largest cities (New York and Chicago).