Bangor Among Least Polluted Cities in U.S.

Bangor is among the least polluted cities in the nation, according to a new report by the American Lung Association. 

Bangor was one of four cities that stood out in the State of the Air 2014 report. Also listed were Bismarck, N.D., Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., and Salinas, Calif.

The report found that those cities had no days at the unhealthy level for ozone or short-term particle pollution and had some of the lowest levels for year-round particle pollution.

Penobscot County received a grade of "A" in the report.

“We are absolutely thrilled for the people of Bangor and Penobscot County,” Effie Craven, Healthy Air Coordinator for the American Lung Association in Maine, said in a news release. “For them, the Clean Air Act is working exactly as intended to make our air healthier. But the news isn’t nearly as rosy if you live in Portland or southern Maine, where high ozone levels continue to result in unhealthy air days that can lead to asthma attacks, reduced lung function, and expensive hospital admissions."

Indeed, while Bangor fared well in the report, southern Maine did not. Cumberland County received a grade of “C” and York County received a “D.”

The five most polluted cities were all in California. They were Los Angeles-Long Beach, Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, Bakersfield, Fresno-Madera and Sacramento-Roseville, Calif.