New Report: Over Half a Million Kids in Connecticut Are Breathing Unhealthy Air; Fairfield County Ozone Pollution Ranks Worst East of Texas as New Haven–Hartford–Waterbury Posts Best-Ever Particle Res

Today, the American Lung Association released its 27th annual “State of the Air” report, which finds that nearly half of the children in the U.S. are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution, including 535,412 kids in Connecticut. The report also finds that air quality worsened for six of the state’s eight counties for ozone smog—all but Windham County earning Fs—but improved for both measures of particle pollution in all five counties graded, earning straight D’s for the daily measures, and passing grades for the year-round average. 

The New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area improved for both measures of particle pollution, but worsened for ozone smog, continuing to post F grades, meaning that area residents are still being exposed unhealthy air. The metro area did post its best-ever value for year-round fine particle pollution, for which it was ranked 168th most polluted in the nation and again received a Passing grade. 

Meanwhile, ozone smog in Fairfield County, CT worsened for the third straight year, as it continued to be the most ozone-polluted county in the New York-Newark, NY-NJ metro area, and this year, the dirtiest in the U.S. east of Texas, ranking the metro area at 12th worst in the nation for ozone, down from last year’s 16th place. 

Parts of the state showed declines or improvements for certain pollution measures, highlighting air quality contrasts across Connecticut communities. In particular:

• Fairfield County was worst in the state for all three measures of air pollution: In addition to its F grade for ozone smog, it earned a D grade for the daily measure of fine particles and passed for the year-round average.
• Windham County was the only Connecticut county that had a passing grade for ozone smog, earning a C.
• All Connecticut counties graded for particle pollution improved over last year’s measurements for both the daily (though all earned D grades) and year-round results (all passing)—Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, New Haven and New London.
• Hartford and New London Counties tied with the same best average for the daily measure of fine particles (2.3 unhealthy days per year), and Litchfield County was the cleanest in the state for the year-round average of particle pollution.

The Lung Association’s “State of the Air” report grades counties’ air quality in terms of unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution (also known as smog), and year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution (also known as soot) over a three-year period (2022-2024). The report also ranks counties and metropolitan areas in cleanest and most polluted lists for each pollutant. Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer.

Infants, children and teens as a group are more susceptible to the health impacts of air pollution. Their lungs are still developing, they breathe more air for their body size than adults and they are frequently exposed to outdoor air. Air pollution exposure in childhood can cause long-term harm, including reduced lung growth, new asthma cases and increased risk of respiratory diseases.

“Clean air is essential to the health and wellbeing of families across Connecticut. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Ruth Canovi, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution. This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, contributing to chronic health conditions, and making people who work outdoors sick.” 

Canovi added: “To compound the issue further, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rollbacks of critical healthy air rules are impacting our residents. We urge Connecticut policymakers to take action to improve our air quality and we are calling on everyone to tell EPA that our kids’ health counts.”

Nationally, the report found that 33.5 million children in the U.S., or 46% of people under 18 years old, live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution. In total, 44% of people of all ages in the U.S. (152 million people in total) live in a county that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution. 32.9 million people live in counties with failing grades for all three measures.

Key Findings for New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area:
Ground-level Ozone Pollution: 
Ozone “smog” affects the largest number of people in the U.S. Smog forms when gases from tailpipes, smokestacks, factories and other pollution sources react with sunlight. It is a powerful respiratory irritant with effects that have been likened to a sunburn of the lungs.  

• The New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area ranked 29th worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—9.5 days per year, an F grade, in New Haven County, Connecticut.
  • This was a better ranking than in last year's report of 27th worst even though this year there were more unhealthy days than the 9.2 days per year, an F grade.  

Particle Pollution: 
Fine particle pollution can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. These particles come from wildfires, wood-burning stoves, coal-fired power plants, diesel engines and other sources. The report has two grades for particle pollution: one for “short-term” particle pollution, or daily spikes, and one for the annual average “year-round” level that represents the concentration of particles in each location.

• The New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area ranked 82nd worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst counties’ average number of unhealthy days—2.3 days per year, a D grade, in Litchfield and New Haven Counties, Connecticut.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 58th worst, with 3.3 days per year, an F grade.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst counties, Hartford and New Haven Counties, Connecticut, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area ranked 168th worst in the nation.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 155th worst in the nation. 

The Lung Association is calling on everyone to urge EPA to value the health of America’s kids. Historically, EPA has played an essential role in protecting people’s health from air pollution. The current EPA has retreated from its public health foundation by rolling back clean air protections. This EPA has also taken the recent step of eliminating health-related information from its economic analyses, meaning that the costs of pollution to kids, families and communities will not be counted as policies are undone. EPA must not devalue kids’ health.

See the full report results and take action at Lung.org/sota.

Get involved and help the mission of American Lung Association. The Fight For Air Climb Hartford is this weekend (April 25), registration available onsite, learn more at FightForAirClimb.org/hartford or join the LUNG FORCE Walk Hartford on June 6. Learn more at LUNGFORCE.org/hartford.