| The American Lung Association's 2016 "State of the Air" report found continued improvement in air quality, but more than half (52.1%) of the people in the United States live in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution.
Three WV counties, Hancock, Ohio and Kanawha, received an "F" and Wood and Mon counties received a "D."
The annual national air quality "report card" found that 166 million Americans live with unhealthful levels of air pollution, putting them at risk for premature death and other serious health effects like lung cancer, asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm.
The American Lung Association said, "Thanks to cleaner power plants and cleaner vehicles, we see a continued reduction of ozone and year-round particle pollution in the 2016 'State of the Air' report.
However, climate change has increased the challenges to protecting public health," said Harold P. Wimmer, National President and CEO of the American Lung Association. "There are still nearly 20 million people in the United States that live with unhealthful levels of all three measures of air pollution the report tracks: ozone, short-term and year-round particle pollution."
Many WV rivers are under a warning regarding eating fish with too much mercury, related to carbon emissions.
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