By Hannah Grover
Major cities in New Mexico continue to struggle with ozone levels. Both the Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Los Alamos metropolitan statistical area and the El Paso-Las Cruces metropolitan statistical area are ranked in the top most polluted cities in terms of ozone on this year’s State of the Air Report.
The American Lung Association released its annual report Wednesday. The Albuquerque and Santa Fe region ranked 22nd on the list of worst ozone pollution and the Las Cruces area ranked 18th.
Cities in the southwest are more likely to rank high for ozone pollution due to the abundant sunlight. Ozone forms when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides react in the presence of sunlight. High levels of ozone can worsen conditions like asthma and respiratory diseases.
The top three cities on the list for worst air pollution are in southern California. The Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona area ranks number four on the list.
The State of the Air report looks at ozone and particulate matter based on data available through air quality monitors. The report analyzes a three year period of time. This year’s report looked at the years 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Because the State of the Air report only examines metropolitan statistical areas, not every community in New Mexico receives a grade or is ranked. The State of the Air report gives some counties letter grades based on the air pollution. Data is also not always available for every county in New Mexico. For example, San Juan County — which once ranked as having the cleanest air in the country in terms of particulate matter — no longer has data available about levels of particulate matter. San Juan County has a history of high ozone levels and this year was given an “F” grade on the report.
Other counties that received “F” grades for ozone include Bernalillo, Doña Ana, Eddy and Lea.
Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Valencia counties received “B” grades on the report and Sandoval County received a “C” grade. No county in New Mexico was given an “A.”
When it comes to particulate matter, only five counties had data available. Bernalillo and Doña Ana counties both received “F” grades while Lea, Santa Fe and Taos counties were given “B” grades.
According to the report, despite efforts to reduce air pollution, more people are living in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. About 46 percent of Americans, or 156.1 million people, live in places that received failing grades on this year’s report.
Communities of color are more likely to live in areas with unhealthy air and are also more likely to experience chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes and heart disease that make them more vulnerable to that air pollution, the report states.
This year, the Midwest and Plains states stretching down into Texas were the hardest hit region in terms of ozone pollution due to wildfires in Canada in 2023 and high temperatures. That part of the country saw the largest change in ozone levels. The Tulsa, Oklahoma area jumped from 31st worst in the country in terms of ozone pollution to 19th on the list.
I’m glad that Santa Fe gets included in our metro area so we can drag them down from their county rating.
Please explain to me how Las Cruces/Dona Ana county get an “F” grade? There is not enough manufacturing in Dona Ana as a whole to cause any measurable air pollution. Sure, there’s probably air pollution in far south Dona Ana County, but the pollution is coming from either El Paso, TX or Ciudad, JZ, MZ.
And if DAC got an “F” grade because of dust pollution, then whomever conducts these studies is obvious not from New Mexico, plus they probably never step foot outside their parents basement.