WV CITIES GET 'F' FOR CLEAN AIR

(04/29/2010)
West Virginia counties have received F's for air quality with five state cities on the report's most polluted list on a new report by the American Lung Association.

The 2010 "State of the Air" report ranks areas of the state by ozone and year-round and short-term particle pollution.

Five of the 25 cities in the USA with the worst year-round particle pollution are in West Virginia.

Charleston and the Weirton-Steubenville, Ohio area tied at No. 11; Huntington-Ashland, Ky. was ranked at No. 16; Hagerstown, Md.-Martinsburg was ranked at No. 21; and Parkersburg-Marietta, Ohio, was ranked at No. 25.

The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, which includes part of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, was ranked at No. 16 on the Ozone list.

In West Virginia, Brooke, Hancock, Kanawha and Marshall counties received F's for particle pollution.

Cabell, Hancock, Kanawha, Monongalia, Ohio and Wood counties received F's for ozone pollution.

No city in West Virginia or nearby in surrounding states ranked on the report's Cleanest Cities list.