By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Greater Cincinnati's air is among the dirtiest in the nation - worse than larger cities such as Chicago and New York - according to a study by the American Lung Association released Thursday.

MOST POLLUTED

Here are the metropolitan areas most polluted by particulate matter, according to an American Lung Association report released Thursday. Particulate matter is small grains of heavy metals, dust and other pollutants that can cause effects ranging from coughing and wheezing to heart attacks and death. 1. Los Angeles 2. Visalia, Calif. 3. Bakersfield, Calif. 4. Fresno, Calif. 5. Pittsburgh 6. Detroit 7. Atlanta 8. Cleveland 9. (tie) Birmingham, Ala., and Hanford, Calif. 11. Cincinnati 12. Knoxville, Tenn. 13. Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va.-Ohio 14. Chicago 15. Canton, Ohio Others in region: 22. (tie) Louisville and Huntington, W.Va. 24. Columbus

Association officials reviewed three years of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reach its conclusions on the amount of two key pollutants, particulate matter and ozone, in the air.

Both pollutants are respiratory irritants. Particulates largely consist of tiny particles of unburned heavy metals from smokestacks and automobile tailpipes. Ozone, also known as smog, is created when nitrogen oxide bakes in the sun on hot summer days.

The pollutants can lead to asthma attacks, lung, eye and throat irritation, and even premature death, health studies have shown.

The Cincinnati area has the 11th most polluted air in the nation when it comes to particulate matter. While the region wasn't ranked in the top 25 most polluted areas for ozone, Greater Cincinnati found out last week that it is not in compliance with tough new federal air quality standards for ozone. The region has until 2009 to clean up its act.

The report also gave failing air quality grades to seven counties in Greater Cincinnati - Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties in Ohio and Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties in Kentucky - for particulate matter and ozone. Dearborn County in Indiana, also identified last week by the EPA for not meeting air quality standards for ozone, didn't make the lung association's report.

"The air is too dirty," said Paul Billings, vice president of national policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association. "There are too many places where too many citizens breathe dirty air on too many days. We want to call attention to the problem, because we need the political will to clean the air.

"We see a little bit of progress in some areas, but not enough to say we're turned the corner and are solving the problem."

Not everyone agrees.

Joel Schwartz, a scientist and visiting fellow with the Washington, D.C.-based think tank American Enterprise Institute, said the report distorts the amount of pollution in the air and the health effects of that pollution. Schwartz has been working on air pollution policy for about 12 years.

"Someone who reads this report wouldn't know how much air quality has improved over the past few decades, would think air pollution will get much worse in the future, and would think that air pollution at current levels is causing serious harm to people's health," he said.

"None of those things are true."

Schwartz said air pollution controls put into place in the 1970s have paid off with huge reductions in particulate matter and ozone. He said new, tougher standards being enacted by the federal government will ensure further reductions.

"Environmental groups want to keep people fearful because that's what brings in the donations," Schwartz said. "If the problem is smaller, or getting better, then there's less need for activism."

But Susan Knight, a regional representative for the Sierra Club, argued that credible health studies have linked air pollution to increases in childhood asthma, respiratory illness and premature death.

"There's a very clear message that our communities are at risk and that we can do better," Knight said. "Ohio, in particular, is at risk because of all of the coal-fired power plants around us."

New tougher federal air pollution requirements for particulate matter will begin being enforced in December, although states will have several years to come into compliance.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com