The American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report cards are an ongoing assessment of regional air pollution levels, granularized by county. The 2021 edition contained troubling news for Bucks County residents. Cassie Miller aired the reasons for the concern in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

The report compiles and analyzes air-quality ratings from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The data chronicled the presence of ozone and other pollutants over the three-year period 2017–2019.

Nationally, the assessment showed that more than four in 10 Americans currently live in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution. Worse, people of color are three times more likely to breathe air carrying harmful substances daily than their white counterparts.

In a more micro view, Bucks County’s ozone level resulted in an F grade.

Its weighted score (9.5) was determined by a calculation that included the number of “unhealthy air days” as defined by the EPA Air Quality Index. Unhealthy air days are color coded, based on the severity of the threat.

For the three years of the current statistics, Bucks County saw:

• 24 Code Orange days, representing a health threat to “sensitive groups” such as children, asthma patients, and the elderly
• Three Code Red days, representing a health threat to the population in general

Locally, Philadelphia, Allegheny, and Montgomery Counties also earned F grades for ozone.

Twelve Pa. counties (including Bradford, Lackawanna, and Somereset) earned A’s on the 2021 ozone report card.

More on this story is at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.