Which Central IL counties have the cleanest air? [Video]

CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) — Air pollution is a major problem in the U.S. and one advocacy group has ranked Illinois cities and counties for the cleanest air.

The American Lung Association released its annual State of Air report for 2024 on Wednesday, studying two common pollutants in the air — ozone levels and particle levels– across the United States. The organization used data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2020 to 2022 for the report.

They found that 39% of Americans live in an area with at least one unhealthy levels of air pollution of short-term particle pollution, year-round particle pollution and ozone pollution.

“We have seen impressive progress in cleaning up air pollution over the last 25 years, thanks in large part to the Clean Air Act,” Harold Wimmer, the President and CEO of the American Lung Association, said. “However, when we started this report, our team never …