Tallies Are a Breath of Fresh Air

Good news for everyone who breathes:

So far this year, Ventura County has not once exceeded the federal one-hour ozone limit, a critical threshold that all smoggy communities are obliged to meet under the nation’s Clean Air Act.

That suggests that the county’s campaign to clean up its air is working.

As hard as it may be to believe on a breezy, blue-sky summer day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ranks Ventura County as the eighth most polluted region in the nation. Despite significant improvement over the past several years, the county’s smog problem is still rated severe.

That stigma may evaporate if the county continues its efforts toward restoring clean air. There’s a role for everyone in that campaign.

“So far, this year is looking great,” Richard H. Baldwin, the county’s air pollution control officer, told The Times. “If it stayed this way for the next year and a half we would be at attainment, but those are big ifs, with capital letters and big exclamation points.”

It’s too soon to declare victory because August and September tend to be notoriously hot and sticky, and October traditionally brings the Santa Ana desert winds that push inland air pollution our way and aggravate the threat of wildfires.

This year’s dramatic improvement continues several successive years of air quality gains. For example, Simi Valley, the county’s smog hot spot, has violated the more stringent federal eight-hour standard only 11 days and the super strict state limits, which no urban part of California is expected to attain any time soon, 13 days.

That may sound like a lot but it’s an 80% improvement over 10 years ago.

Similar progress has been made in Thousand Oaks and Ojai, two other smog zones. Ventura, Piru and Oxnard have barely registered on the ozone meter this year.

Smog has been declining across the nation in recent years thanks to regulation, industry cleanup efforts, new technologies and increased public awareness. The effort has carried a significant cost in convenience and investment, but clean air is one health and quality of life benefit that everyone shares.

We salute the efforts of the county’s Air Pollution Control District and encourage all Ventura County residents to keep air quality in mind as they shop for new appliances and lawn mowers, decide to walk or take a bus rather than hop in the car for each short trip and follow experts’ advice when using or recycling paints and solvents.

Continued improvement in the county’s air quality? We’ll breathe to that.