Boston-Worcester-Providence Metro Area Earns Failing Grades for Ozone and Daily Particle Pollutants; Washington County, Rhode Island, Worst for Ozone Smog

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 19,259 kids in Rhode Island. The reports finds that the Boston–Worcester–Providence, MA–RI–NH metro area (which includes all five of the state’s counties) continues to struggle with unhealthy air quality, earning failing grades for both ozone smog and short-term particle pollution, despite showing improvement in year-round particle pollution levels.

For Rhode Island, the findings are concerning as Washington County recorded the worst ozone pollution levels in the entire three-state metro area, earning an F grade and driving the region’s overall smog ranking, now 57th worst in the nation. Washington County was also worst in the state for daily measure of fine particle pollution, earning a C grade. But the year-round average of fine particles was worst in Providence County, for which it improved and still earned a passing grade.  No county in the state earned an A grade for either of the daily measures of ozone or particles.

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 Rhode Island. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Daniel Fitzgerald, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and article pollution. This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, contributing to chronic health conditions, and making people who work outdoors sick.” 

Fitzgerald 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 Rhode Island 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 Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH 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 Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH metro area ranked 57th worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—4.8 days per year, an F grade, in Washington County, Rhode Island.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 61st worst, with 4.5 days per year, an F grade.  

Washington County’s performance highlights that Rhode Islanders remain exposed to unhealthy smog levels, even as pollution sources and weather patterns extend beyond state borders.

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 Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH metro area ranked 53rd worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—3.3 days per year, an F grade, in Essex County, Massachusetts.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 114th worst, with 1.7 days per year, a C grade.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Plymouth and Worcester Counties, Massachusetts, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH metro area ranked 164th worst in the nation.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 110th worst in the nation. 

In addition to the findings for Rhode Island, other notable results throughout the region include: 

• The New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area worsened for ozone smog, again posting a failing grade (for 9.5 unhealthy days per year in New Haven County), but its rank improved slightly from 27th worst to 29th. In contrast, the area recorded its best-ever and passing mark for the year-round measure of fine particle pollution (with Hartford and New Haven Counties tying), with its rank improving from 155th to 168th worst; and the daily measure improved from an F and 58th worst to a D grade (with Litchfield and New Haven Counties tying with 2.3 unhealthy days per year) and 82nd worst.
• The Springfield-Amherst Town-Northampton, MA metro area posted passing grades for all three measures of air quality. The year-round average of fine particle pollution improved to 16th best in the country. The daily measure for particles remained unchanged, earning a D grade and ranking the metro at 76th worst in the nation, with Franklin County again being worst for this measure. The metro area was last worse for daily particles 19 years ago. Ozone smog worsened slightly, based on Hampden County’s result, and continues with a C grade, worsening from 108th worst to 100th worst in the U.S.

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 LUNG FORCE Walk in Providence is coming up on June 13. Learn more at LUNGFORCE.org/providence.