Document text
Air quality improves in county EUGENE (AP) - Five Oregon counties improved their air quality to an "A" grade in the latest smog survey by the American Lung Association. Clackamas, Columbia, Jackson, Lane and Marion counties were ranked among the cleanest in the nation for air quality, with Clackamas and Jackson counties moving all the way up from a "C" grade the previous year, based on levels of ozone air pollution recorded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. "I guess we can take it as a pat on the back that we're doing a reasonable job," said Robert Koster, operations manager for the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority. But he warned it is easy to slip back to unhealthy pollution levels. "It's a fleeting sense of security. We need to continue to do what we can," Koster said. In its national report released Thursday, the lung association said that slight improvements in air quality are mostly due to changes in weather and not to air pollution cleanup efforts. Across the country, nearly half of all Americans now live in areas where ozone pollution has reached unhealthy levels, officials said. "Cars are the biggest contributor" to the problem, said Nina deConcini, state Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman. Nationally, smog-laden Los Angeles ranked No. 1 among metropolitan areas in 692 counties as having the worst ozone air pollution, while Spokane, Wash., ranked as having the best. The Portland-Salem, Medford-Ashland and Eugene-Springfield areas ranked among the 15 cleanest urban areas in the country. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -