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New York is V-Airy Dirty
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 22, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 22, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Hey, Governor Pataki - you may be out of the hospital and giving press conferences - but take this in: NY State has the grossest air in the country - the country! The EPA says that 68 out of every million New Yorkers is at risk for getting cancer just from breathing the air (the second dirtiest air state, California, has 66 per million residents at risk). Something that made Gothamist feel marginally better was that Oregon was the third worst-air-quality state, which proves that Pacific Northwest living ain't all that perhaps, and DC and NJ rounded out the worst five. Oh, and that the emissions data (per the AP, the report measured "heavy metals, such as lead; volatile chemicals, such as benzene; combustion byproducts, such as acrolein; and solvents, including perchloroethylene and methylene chloride") was from 1999 - which is the latest emissions data the EPA has. Poor EPA, if only the government was behind it. But maybe this will just drive a trend of people wearing air maks - it's all the rage in avian flu countries!
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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