Once again, our Region has earned an F grade in the annual “State of the Air” report released by the American Lung Association.
For those of us who’ve lived for decades in Northwest Indiana, especially in northern Lake and Porter counties, this “news” isn’t news at all. We simply shrug or laugh it off, knowing it’s just part of life in the Chicago metropolitan area, which ranked as the 15th most polluted metro area in the nation for ozone pollution. It also received an F grade.
Most adults of a certain age in this corner of the state don’t take this yearly report too seriously. Polluted air is the tradeoff for living close to the southern tip of Lake Michigan and the high level of industrialization that began emerging here more than a century ago.
As a kid raised in Gary in the ‘60s and ‘70s, just east of U.S. Steel, my neighborhood’s air quality was dependent on the direction of the wind every day. Any wind flow from the west or northwest tainted (or poisoned) our air and smelled differently than fresher air. I never thought twice about it.
Region residents were ignorant frogs in a proverbial pot of boiling water, not often considering the option to jump out for health reasons.
Today, more than 2 million children in the Chicago metro area, specifically in communities near the lake, the steel mills, and Chicago — routinely breathe unhealthy levels of pollution, according to the report. In fact, nearly half of U.S. children are breathing polluted air as their lungs are still developing. They breathe more air for their body size than adults, and they frequently spend more time outdoors.
“Infants, children and teens are especially vulnerable to the health harms of breathing air pollution,” the 2026 report states.
Where were the needed safety precautions in my youth, when adults laughed as children biked behind government trucks spraying thick clouds of toxic chemicals to kill mosquitoes? Somehow, we survived before the Clean Air Act began protecting public health and the environment from air pollution. But continuing hazards from the same causes still remain.
Air pollution is an equal opportunity abuser and killer, as the new report reminds us. It doesn’t care about state lines, city limits, and political boundaries. However, the burden of living with unhealthy air is not shared equally.
Research shows that communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air, as well as more likely to be living with one or more chronic health conditions that makes them more vulnerable to air pollution, including asthma, diabetes and heart disease.
A person of color is more than twice as likely (and Hispanics are more than three times as likely) as a white individual to live in a community with a failing grade for all three pollution measures: High ozone days (smog), short-term particle pollution over a 24-hour period, and annual particle pollution.
This year’s report presents data from 2022, 2023 and 2024, the most recent three years of publicly available, quality-assured nationwide air pollution data. Since 2000, the findings in “State of the Air” have reflected the successes of the Clean Air Act, as emissions from transportation, power plants and manufacturing have been reduced over time.
Without question, this is a win for everyone living in our Region and metro area. But, without question, findings from these annual reports have added to extensive evidence that a changing climate is making it harder to protect this hard-fought progress on air quality and human health.
“Increases in high ozone days and spikes in particle pollution related to extreme heat, drought and wildfires are putting millions of people at risk,” the new report states.
The Chicago metro area ranked 15 out of 226 for high ozone days, 13th worst for annual particular pollution, and 50th for 24-hour pollution. If you recall, at one point last summer, on July 31, the Windy City had the worst air quality in the world. Yes, in the world.
As summer approaches, our area will again experience high ozone days and drifting smoke from wildfires in other states and Canada. It’s as certain as getting our vehicle emissions tested for another year.
Our Region has had a love-hate relationship with the pitfalls of industry smokestacks since U.S. Steel Gary Works began operations in 1906. Since then, we’ve been grappling with the same “cap and trade” conundrum: We cap our valid health and environment concerns for the trade-off of steady money and putting food on the table.
Critics of what has been labeled the “Chicken Little” report from the American Lung Association insist that its numbers have been over-exaggerated or grossly misled to produce eye-catching headlines and smoggy aerial photos.
Each year after the report gets released, lobbyists for heavy industry point to continual improvements in air pollution controls. The air in Northwest Indiana is certainly cleaner than when the ALA started its “State of the Air” report in 2000. But the work is not done, now threatened by ongoing rollbacks of healthy air rules by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Every year we get an “F” on this report, it’s our children and grandchildren who we’re ultimately failing.
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