Air: Los Angeles
"Each year the American Lung Association releases a list of the 10 most air polluted U.S. cities, and each year Los Angeles makes it into the top three on these lists in all categories: Short-term particle pollution, year-round particle pollution and ozone pollution."
Part of this is due to the land. The backdrop of L.A. is mountains and the only outlet is a narrow mountain pass that goes through Palm Springs. Don't forget the 18 million people and two of the largest ports in the country.
"PM 2.5 is a fine particulate that can get deeply imbedded into your lungs," says Kerry Drake, Associate Director in the Region 9 Air Division of the EPA. "There are health impacts that can range from asthma to premature death."
Air: Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, Calif., north of Los Angeles in the southernmost tip of the San Joaquin Valley, has also made the American Lung Association’s list of top 10 cities with the worst air quality.
Bakersfield is also a victim of its location. "The San Joaquin Valley is surrounded on three sides by mountains that trap air pollution," says Drake. "The only inlet is San Francisco Bay. Adding to the area’s troubles are two major freeways going through the valley: I-5 and 99. There are 3.5 million people in the valley. So in many ways they have a very difficult chore when it comes to improving air quality."
Air: Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh was number one in the country for short-term particle pollution and number two for year-round particle pollution. "The big factors affecting the air pollution rating in Pittsburgh are its unique geography, meteorology and industry," says Bonnie Smith, a spokesperson for the EPA's mid-Atlantic region. "In Pittsburgh there are high mountains and then deep valleys where the air gets trapped."
Is this sounding familiar yet? I'm starting to see a pattern.
Water: Streams and Headwaters in Appalachia
Mountaintop removal mining, in which coal companies blast off the tops of entire mountain ranges to get to thin seams of coal buried deep below, is the cause for the West Virginia area.
Rubble and waste rock from the mountains are pushed into adjacent valleys, creating what is called "valley fill," where an entire valley is literally filled in with the soil from the mountain top, burying existing streams.
According to the EPA, who did a study last summer, it showed that in coal mining areas, more than 90 percent of the downstream waters have been significantly impaired. "Over 2,000 miles of streams have been buried over the last 15 years by mountaintop removal."
Water: Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is considered a hypoxic zone in which no plant or fish life can grow. As the Mississippi flows into the Gulf, it carries with it a lot of pollution, including excess nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates that feed the growth of plants.
"It's estimated that there’s now a dead area the size of Connecticut in a water system that was previously abundant with life, including fish and shellfish that had been the mainstay of the economies in this area," says Mulhern.
Water: Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is one of the nation's most important estuaries. Its fish and shellfish have been an economic mainstay for fishing communities that have lived on the bay for years. "The number one problem is the runoff from urban and agricultural resources," she says. "There's runoff from large factory farms, including large poultry farms, and raw sewage from Washington D.C. that overflows into the bay when it rains. Three billion gallons of raw sewage flows from our nation's capital into the Chesapeake Bay each year."
Land: The Nelson Tunnel, Creede, Colorado
The Nelson Tunnel sits on five acres in the Historic Creede Mining District, about one mile North of Creede, Colo. The main concern is the tunnel and a large waste rock pile that sits next to it. Both contain high levels of heavy metals -- including arsenic, cadmium, lead and zinc -- that spill into nearby West Willow Creek. "Tests showed that Willow Creek contained heavy zinc concentrations, and that the water draining from the Nelson Tunnel was one of the largest contributors of that zinc," says Peggy Linn, Community Involvement Coordinator with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Land: Iron King Mine Humboldt Smelter, Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona
The town of Humboldt, Arizona is situated near the mine, and "if dust contaminated with metals like arsenic or lead is disturbed, it can be inhaled or ingested," says Dawn Richmond, Section Chief for the Arizona and Navajo Sites Remedial Section. There is also a possibility of groundwater pollution.
Land: Escambia Wood, Pensacola, Florida
The former Escambia Wood Treating Company in Pensacola, Fla., was on a 26-acre property surrounded by commercial and residential communities. The company manufactured wood products treated with creosote and pentachlorophenol (PCP) between 1942 and 1982, when it was abandoned by the owner. "The spent chemicals on the wood were stored in unlined ponds, and would seep into the ground and penetrate the soil." Pollution from the site has impacted 96 acres of land and has created a groundwater plume of contamination that extends about 1.3 miles from the site. Pollution at the site has been deemed toxic enough to relocate the people in several of the surrounding communities.
Now, doesn't this make you feel better about living in Nebraska? No mountains to hold polluted air, no major bodies of water that are used for industrial purposes, and nowhere to mine since it's all used for growing crops.
Inhale deeply, fellow Nebraskans, we've got it pretty good out here in the boondocks.
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