Vermont’s air is clean, but complacency is a concern

By Keith Whitcomb Jr. Staff Writer
Vermont is the envy of the country when it comes to air quality, according to the American Lung Association, but with 40% of Americans affected by air pollution, the impacts of climate change worsening and a pandemic fresh into its second year, it’s important to not become complacent.

According to Trevor Summerfield, director of advocacy at the American Lung Association for Vermont, New York and Massachusetts, the Burlington, South Burlington, Barre area is among the best in the country in terms of short-term and long-term particulate pollution, as well as ozone concentration.

“But what I would emphasize, and I’ve been saying this to folks in New York and Massachusetts as well, is that people in the Northeast, especially Vermont, you are really the envy of air quality in the country,” said Summerfield. “You continually have good grades, you have good air quality, and it’s a measure of the steps you have taken to address the issue.”

The grades he’s referring to are in the annual State of the Air report the American Lung Association has been releasing since about 2000. Vermont has been receiving high marks for its air quality since the report started coming out. Summerfield said the Burlington, South Burlington, Barre area is among the five cleanest places in the country when it comes to air quality. The others include: Charlottesville, Virginia; Elmira-Corning, New York; Urban Honolulu, Hawaii; and Wilmington, North Carolina.

The report recommends reducing the use of fossil fuels, especially with regard to transportation, and pursuing more renewable energy resources.

“There’s always more that we can do, and right now I think complacency is the issue,” he said, adding that the Lung Association supports the Transportation and Climate Initiative, an effort by states in the Northeast and as far down as Washington, D.C., to coordinate the boosting of a renewable energy economy and phasing out fossil fuel.

According to the report, air pollution may have some impact on how well one can weather a COVID-19 infection, though the full impact won’t be completely known until next year, as this report’s data sets come from 2017 to 2019, according to Summerfield.

The report does, however, include some information on air quality and the pandemic. One study showed that a small increase in long-term average exposure to particulate pollution was associated with an 11% increase in COVID-19 death rates. The rate was 15% globally, and some places with high air pollution, it was 58%

“Communities of color also are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air,” according to the report. “Air pollution increases susceptibility to respiratory infections. Also, it worsens underlying chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, which are more common in communities of color, that increase the risk of serious harm from COVID-19,” the report stated.

Summerfield said the report uses data from the Environmental Protection Agency, and is vetted well to ensure accuracy. This takes time, hence the lag between when the reports come out and when the data was collected.

In Vermont, air quality is tested in Chittenden, Rutland and Bennington counties. Summerfield said Chittenden and Rutland have had near perfect marks between 2017 and 2019, while during that period, there were two days between 2017 and 2019 in Bennington County where air pollution was elevated enough to potentially pose a problem for those in at-risk groups.

Summerfield said air pollution can travel a fair distance from where it’s produced, as shown by the wildfires in California, the smoke from which can be detected thousands of miles away depending on weather, a situation not improved by climate change.

keith.whitcomb @rutlandherald.com