'Delaware still has work to do': 2024 air quality report highlights air pollution concerns

Delaware prides itself on access to green spaces like parks and beaches, reprieves of nature between suburban sprawl, farmland and city that provides a dose of fresh air. 

But despite these oases, the American Lung Association’s 2024 State of the Air Report finds that Delaware’s air may not be as fresh as you think, and the state has plenty of work to do to reverse that.

What is the State of the Air Report?  

The 25th annual report covers air quality from 2020 to 2022, in Delaware and nationally, and grades Americans’ exposure to annual particle pollution, unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution and short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period.   

The findings include whether local air quality is unhealthy to breathe; which Delaware residents are most vulnerable; and what actions local, state and national leaders can take to improve air quality. 

The report also reflects the new annual particle pollution standard that the United States Environmental Protection Agency finalized in February, which revised the level of the primary annual particle pollution (also known as fine particulate matter, PM2.5, or soot) from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9 micrograms per cubic meter. This update is based on data showing that the previous standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter did “not protect public health with an adequate margin of safety, as required by the Clean Air Act,” said the EPA.  

The 2024 report determines that nearly 4 out of 10 Americans, 131.2 million, are exposed to unhealthy air, an 11.7 million increase from last year's affected population. This equates to 39% of people living in America.  

What is the air quality in each Delaware county? 

In Delaware, air quality showed mixed results for fine particle pollution and ozone smog, some of the most widespread and harmful types of air pollution.  

Each county continues to receive their best marks yet in terms of ozone smog but concerns about air quality in the state still linger.  

Grade rankings per county were assigned by counting days high in ozone and particle pollution and weighing worse days more than days that are just slightly elevated. A weighted average of the number of such days per year over a three-year period from 2020 to 2022 was then calculated, according to the report’s methodology.  

Each grade value is assigned as follows:  

• Grade “A” is a weighted average of 0.0.  
• Grade “B” is a weighted average of 0.3 to 0.9.   
• Grade “C” is a weighted average of 1.0 to 2.0.  
• Grade “D” is a weighted average of 2.1 to 3.2.   
• Grade “F” is a weighted average of 3.3 or higher.   

New Castle County earned a “C” in the ozone smog category, it’s second passing grade and an improvement from last year’s “D.” This grade indicates there are still “too many days with poor air quality,” according to the ALA.  

Similar to last year, Kent County remains unchanged with a “B” grade.  

These findings follow the trend of the 16-county Philadelphia-Reading-Camden region in the PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area, which includes Delaware’s New Castle and Kent counties, seeing its best-ever results for ozone smog for the third consecutive year. Despite this, the area continues to receive failing marks and is ranked the most polluted in the Mid-Atlantic and the 35th in the nation. 

Sussex County, which belongs to the five-county Salisbury-Cambridge, MD-DE metro area, earned its second “A” grade in the ozone smog category by recording zero days with unhealthy levels of ozone, according to the report. The metro area is ranked as the 116th worst polluted area in the nation, a change from last year’s placement at 65th worst. 

For daily fine particle pollution, New Castle County remains unchanged from last year and received a “B” grade, “which demonstrates that past progress is not assured to continue,” according to the report. In the 2022 State of the Air Report, New Castle County earned an “A.” 

Kent and Sussex counties both earned “A” grades for the 13th straight year.  

Belonging to the Philadelphia metro, New Castle and Kent counties are included in the region’s ranking as the 73^rd worst area in the nation for daily spikes of fine particle pollution. Sussex County’s status in the Salisbury-Cambridge metro places it among the country’s cleanest metros for daily spikes of fine particle pollution. The metro ranks tied for 16th best, a fall from being tied at 9th in last year’s report.  

 “In the 25 years that the American Lung Association has been doing our ‘State of the Air’ report, we have seen incredible improvement in the nation’s air quality. Unfortunately, more than 131 million people still live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution, and Delaware still has work to do,” said Deb Brown, chief mission officer at the ALA. “Climate change is making air pollution more likely to form and more difficult to clean up. There are actions we can and must take to improve air quality.”  

Data for the year-round measures of statewide particle pollution are documented as incomplete for the second reporting year in a row, said the ALA. 

Despite the Philadelphia metro receiving its best mark yet, the metro still received a failing grade for a pollution level above the EPA standards.  

Water concerns:Delaware water systems don't meet new PFAS standards. Is your water impacted?

National air quality findings 

The State of the Air Report’s findings reflect the success of the Clean Air Act – reducing emissions from manufacturing, transportation and power plants – but contributes to the surplus of evidence that “a changing climate is making it harder to protect human health.”

The report adds that high spikes in particle pollution and high ozone days related to drought, extreme heat and wildfires are putting millions of people at risk and creating challenges to the work being done nationwide to clean up air pollution.  

Along with more than 131 million Americans living in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution, 43.9 million people live in areas with failing grades for all measures, according to the report.  

The EPA’s more protective air quality standard put forth in February also recognizes that more people are breathing unhealthy air than what previously considered acceptable under the prior standard.  

“In the three years covered by this report, individuals in the U.S. experienced the highest number of days when particle pollution reached “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” levels in the history of reporting the ‘State of the Air,’” the report notes.  

Disparities in poor air quality impacts 

Due to the combination of policy-driven reductions in emissions and climate change-fueled increases in pollution, the ongoing and marked disparity between air quality in eastern and western states persists, especially for the daily measure of fine particle pollution. 

Only four large counties in three states east of the Mississippi River earned failing grades for daily spikes in fine particle pollution, compared to 108 counties in 16 western states.  

The State of the Air Report continues to document that the “burden of living with unhealthy air is not shared equally.” 

While people of color make up 41.6 % of the overall U.S. population, according to the report, they make up 52% of the people living in a county with at least one failing grade. In the counties with the worst air quality that receive failing grades for all three measures of air population, 63% of the nearly 44 million residents are people of color, compared to 37% who are white. People of color were reported as 2.3 times as likely as white people to live in a county with three failing grades.  

In Delaware the breakdown of at-risk populations is as follows: 

• Of New Castle County’s total population of 575,494, 265,939 of those individuals are people of color. The poverty estimate for the county is 56,547. 
• Of Kent County’s total population of 186,946, 78,595 of those individuals are people of color. The poverty estimate for the county is 19,204.  
• Of Sussex County’s total population of 255,956, 62,884 of those individuals are people of color. The poverty estimate for the county is 24,092.  

The report adds that both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as strokes, heart attacks, premature births, asthma attacks and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer.  

ICYMI:Bill to ban plastic 6-pack rings introduced in General Assembly

A future with cleaner air 

The American Lung Association continues pushing for the EPA to set national limits on ozone pollution, declaring that stronger limits would “help people protect themselves and drive cleanup of polluting sources across the country.” 

In Delaware, the ALA calls on the state to continue pushing legislation that will result in environmental improvement.  

“The state has made great progress on adopting healthy air policies including most recently Advanced Clean Cars II and we encourage Delaware to continue to support policies that would improve air quality,” said Brown.  

Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.