Community Health Impacts of Air Pollution in the U.S.

Community Health Impacts of Air Pollution in the U.S. focuses on the contributions of the energy and transportation sectors to air pollution in the United States and the role of the Clean Air Act in addressing these emissions.

This report identifies the largest sources of air pollution in the U.S., describes the health impacts of air pollution, and summarizes the air emissions from the energy and transportation sectors. In addition, the report provides an overview of the Clean Air Act, including a description of some of its key programs and the pollutants regulated under the act, and discusses the successes of the Clean Air Act in improving air quality nationwide, while recognizing that disenfranchised and underserved communities bear a disproportionate share of the continuing burden of air pollution. Finally, the report concludes with three case studies demonstrating the impacts of energy- and transportation-related air pollution on the San Pedro Bay ports in southern California, the Ironbound community in Newark, New Jersey, and Petersburg, Indiana.

Watch: Webinar launch of this report with Pargoal Arab, Report Author; Veronica Saltzman, Wendy Jacobs Legal Fellow, Clean Air Task Force; Maria Lopez Nunez, Deputy Director, Organizing and Advocacy, Ironbound Community Corporation; Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Associate Professor, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland; Member, U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board; Co-founder of the DMV Environmental Justice Coalition and the Mid-Atlantic Environmental and Economic Justice Coalition; and Katherine Pruitt, Author, 24th annual “State of the Air” report, and National Senior Director for Policy, American Lung Association