New Lung Association Report Ranks Casper and Cheyenne Among Cleanest Cities in the US for Soot While Highlighting Ozone improvements

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 30,875 kids in Wyoming. The Cheyenne metro area was named 123rd worst ozone polluted city in the nation, earning a “C” grade, which is an improvement from 70th worst and an “F” grade in last year’s report. 

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 Wyoming. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Nick Torres, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the Cheyenne, WY metro area are still 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.” 

Torres 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 Wyoming 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 Cheyenne, WY 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 Cheyenne, WY metro area ranked 123rd worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—1.5 days per year, a C grade, in Laramie County, Wyoming.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 70th worst, with 3.3 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 Cheyenne, WY metro area ranked 110th 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—1.5 days per year, a C grade, in Laramie County, Wyoming.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 104th worst, with 1.8 days per year, a C grade.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Laramie County, Wyoming, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The Cheyenne, WY metro area ranked 204th worst in the nation (tied for 7th best among the nation's cleanest cities).
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 201st worst in the nation (8th best among the nation's cleanest cities). 

Other notable findings include: 

• The Casper, WY metro area ranked 110th worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—1.7 days per year, a C grade, in Natrona [Insert the word County if appropriate], Wyoming. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 115th worst, with 1.3 days per year, a C grade. 
  • The Casper, WY metro area ranked 154th 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—0.7 days per year, a B grade, in Natrona County, Wyoming. This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 139th worst, with 1 day per year, a C grade. 
  • For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Natrona, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. The Casper, WY metro area ranked 210th worst in the nation (2nd best among the nation's cleanest cities). This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 207th worst in the nation (tied for best among the nation's cleanest cities). 

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.