The Skies Over New York and Los Angeles

With current federal regulation of air pollution seeming like nothing more than puffery, the promise of cleaner air is leaving many people holding their breath. Because air quality differs regionally, however, local governments often shoulder the responsibility to improve it. Many cities, like New York and Los Angeles, are implementing sound strategies to reduce emissions; nonetheless, conditions in both these cities are worsening.

The major kinds of air pollution generated by automobile emissions, ozone and particulates, are known triggers of a host of lung diseases including asthma. New York and Los Angeles, which rank in the American Lung Association's top fifteen in the country for unhealthy, ozone-polluted air, can pave the way to cleaner air - by not paving the way for more vehicle traffic.

Over 1 million cars flood into New York City daily. But public transportation use in New York is also high - much higher than Los Angeles - with a 2002 average of 4.6 million weekday subway riders and 2.5 million MTA bus passengers and 420,000 private bus users. As well, all of New York's MTA vehicles recently converted to cleaner burning, ultra low sulfur fuel. But while vehicles are getting cleaner, there are still too many of them.

Private bus fleets and school buses are also being targeted for clean up. According to the American Lung Association of the City of New York, one out of 10 school children in the city are affected by asthma and, in some neighborhoods, such as Harlem, one in four children suffer from it. The ALA cites new research that suggests the air inside school buses can also make kids sick. Pollutant concentrations have been found to be five to fifteen times higher inside the buses than in outside air.

Each year, one million New Yorkers - including 300,000 children - suffer from asthma. Many lung illnesses, including bronchitis, asthma and allergies are triggered by unclean air. The Natural Resources Defense Council cites research that suggests the particulate emissions from burning diesel can increase susceptibility to allergens and produce a more serious reaction among people with otherwise mild allergies. And recent research at UCLA suggests that ozone - not just particulates - triggers asthma.

Both ozone and particulates are harmful to health. New York's air, which has higher concentrations of particulates due to weather patterns bringing in pollution from Midwestern industry, is not quite as unhealthy as Los Angeles's, whose geography makes it susceptible to higher ozone concentrations.

Although California has the strictest air pollution rules in the nation, Los Angeles continues to suffer from the worst polluted air in the country. According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, 75 percent of the pollution is caused by vehicle emissions.

"There's no question that the automobile is still king in Los Angeles," said Ed Scannell, a spokesperson for that Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Despite the MTA's clear commitment to alternative fuel vehicles--by next year all but approximately 75 of the 2,400-bus fleet will run on cleaner burning compressed natural gas--there aren't enough people choosing public transportation. On average, 1.2 million people ride MTA buses on weekdays and LA county has the largest fleet of compressed natural gas buses in North America.

Los Angeles County has 10 million residents and six million registered cars and trucks. With 95 percent of trips made in a private vehicle, interstate traffic is going gangbusters. The county has already been in violation of state standards for maximum ozone for 30 days this year, continuing a trend of unhealthful air days that total an average of almost one-third of the year.

Can the tide shift? According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the progress in improving air quality Southern California made in the early 1990s, due to the state's mandatory regulation on reformulated gasoline, has started to fall off. The AQMD, a government agency covering for four Calif. Counties and14 million people, faults a lag in state and federal regulations for the decline.

A similar pattern is evident in New York. According to the ALA of the City of New York, pollution exceedances are on the rise even as there are fewer state and federal monitors in place to patrol them.

Bigger numbers, less controls? That seems to be the trend in the current state of the air. As the NRDC explains, tailpipe emissions from cars, with the exception of carbon dioxide, have been reduced by 90 percent in the last 30 years due to catalytic converters and the elimination of lead. There are just more people driving bigger vehicles for more miles, canceling out the positive effects of cleaner fuel technology.

For more on how you can help decrease air pollution and encourage more liveable cities, see "Sprawl Resources" and What You Can Do in "Suburban Sprawl, Waistline Spread."