State of the air? It’s bad
The American Lung Association has released its “State of the Air” report, which grades counties with EPA air-monitoring facilities for air quality. Of the 23 counties in Alabama with an EPA monitor, 12 received grades of “F” for ozone contamination. Surprise! Jefferson County was one of those 12. Jefferson also won 
the award for most orange-flag days (days of last year in which there was an amount of ozone in the air that the EPA says is unhealthy for people sensitive to ozone) with 64 days, beating out second place Shelby County by 18 days. Jefferson also had nine red-flag days (just plain “unhealthy,” the EPA says), again beating Shelby’s four. No county in Alabama had any purple-flag days (those are “very unhealthy”).
