Shelby County gets an ‘F’ for air quality

MEMPHIS, TENN.— The American Lung Association’s 2018 State of the Air report, released today, gives Shelby County an “F” grade for excessive levels of ozone pollution. Last year, the county got a “D” for ozone, a pollutant that medical experts say is like getting a sunburn on your lungs.

Long-term exposure to ozone pollution, also called smog, is linked to chronic asthma and other respiratory and lung diseases. Children are at the greatest health risk, because they’re more likely to be active outdoors and their lungs are still developing. But seniors and people with heart ailments can also see their chronic conditions get worse due to inhaling smog pollution, which can be deadly.

The report makes it clear how dirty air is a real problem across the country and how dangerous it would be to cut clean air safeguards and protections, as with a recent bill to revoke car emissions testing in several Tennessee counties—including Davidson County, which got a "D" in this year’s report—and gutting the federal clean air standards that have been key to cutting smog nationwide.

In response to today’s report, Scott Banbury, conservation program coordinator for the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“Memphis already holds the grave distinction of being a national asthma capital and 12,000 students in Shelby County Schools are living with this chronic, incurable disease. We have to take this public health threat seriously and ensure that our kids can breathe smog-free air.

“Our right to clean air should always come before an industry’s desire to make money by cutting corners and polluting our communities—and we won’t stand by silently as state and federal officials weaken and dismantle the critical protections we need and deserve.”