Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Paging Waler Block: America's Most Polluted Cities


Prof. Walter Block explained how this would be different in a free market societyr, in his important 1990 book, Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation

Here are the most polluted according to Yahoo:

10. Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 10th worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 14th worst
> Residents with asthma: 215,984
> Population: 2,179,965


9. El Centro, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 9th worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 10th worst
> Residents with asthma: 14,253
> Population: 177,057




8. Pittsburgh-New Castle, Penn.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 8th worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 24th worst
> Residents with asthma: 224,567
> Population: 2,450,281


7. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 7th worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 2nd worst
> Residents with asthma: 35,957
> Population: 449,253


6. Modesto, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 6th worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 13th worst
> Residents with asthma: 41,791
> Population: 518,522


5. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 5th worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 1st worst
> Residents with asthma: 1,464,217
> Population: 18,081,569


4. Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 4th worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 5th worst
> Residents with asthma: 12,388
> Population: 153,765


3. Fresno-Madera, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: 3rd worst
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 4th worst
> Residents with asthma: 88,136
> Population: 1,095,829


2. Merced, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: worst (tied for first)
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 11th worst
> Residents with asthma: 20,837
> Population: 259,898


1. Bakersfield-Delano, Calif.
> Year-round particle pollution rank: worst (tied for first)
> Unhealthy ozone pollution rank: 3th worst
> Residents with asthma: 68,419
> Population: 851,710

4 comments:

  1. That's funny, a lot of California there...

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  2. Wow, California takes up 8 out 10. Also interesting, when you run the numbers the California cities have a solid 8% of their population with asthma. The two other cities have 9-10% with asthma. But according to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/asthma.htm) 8.2% of the U.S. population has asthma.

    So the California cities are actually below the National Average.

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  3. War climate, dry air... It's good for my asthma, not sure about other people though.

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  4. @ChrisBarcelo @kfp: more to the point, 6 of 10 in the southern Central Valley of California. One wonders why the megalopolis known as the Bay Area has such fine air. All their pollution gets blown east and then south into the valley, where it gets trapped by the Sierras to the east, the Tehachapis to the south, the Coastal Ranges to the west, and an inversion layer above. I'm glad we moved out of the Fresno area 10 years ago as it's only gotten worse. Unfortunately, there are a lot fine people stuck in that horrible air.

    @steveZ: "War climate, dry air..." are you talking about Afghanistan?

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