![]() ![]() San Antonio is a relatively dispersed city in Bexar county. According to a report from Frontier Group and the Environment America Research & Policy Center, it is estimated that more than half (52%) of all PM2.5 and ozone pollution in Texas originates from transportation exhaust. Transportation remains the leading source of air pollution in San Antonio. Is the pollution level a problem in San Antonio? As San Antonio continues to fail the present 70 ppb standard, and air pollution levels appear to be on the rise, it is clear that more must be done to reduce emissions from the largest polluting sources: transportation and the oil and gas industry. There is pressure for the EPA to further lower the standard to around 60 ppb. Many health and environmental experts advocate that the current federal ozone standard of 70 ppb doesn't do enough to safeguard public health. 5 Data collected by InsideClimate News found that during the months of April to October, the months in which San Antonio’s ozone levels were the highest, oil and gas development accounted for half of all ozone-forming precursor pollutants in the atmosphere. Since Eagle Ford shale, one of the nation's largest oil and gas developments, was established just outside of the city, ozone levels have increased significantly. Texas’s business-first approach, in the face of resident health, presents a significant challenge to tackling air pollution levels in the state and in San Antonio specifically.įracking is also thought to have increased city-wide ozone levels. That number is less than 1/100th of what they could have charged ($297 million) under existing law. The penalties for illegal emissions from all Texas facilities only amounted to $2 million in 2018, or roughly one cent per pound of illegal air pollution. Weak penalties and enforcement are likely to have directly incentivized these increases. 4Īccording to a study published by Environment Texas and Frontier Group, Texas industrial facilities reportedly released 135 million pounds of illegal air pollution in 2018, or more than double the amount from the previous year. ![]() San Antonio’s recent air pollution jumps may be attributable to fracking at the relatively new Eagle Ford shale facility 50 miles from the city as well as to a drastic increase in illegal air pollution from nearby industrial facilities. This comes despite long-term improvements since the Clean Air Act of 1970.įor fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, San Antonio experienced a 17.5% increase in pollution levels from 2018 to 2019. In recent years, San Antonio’s air quality has worsened. ![]() What is polluting the air in San Antonio? Conversely, should ozone levels deteriorate to 77 ppm, it is estimated that an additional 19 deaths could result annually.įollow live air quality data in San Antonio at the top of this page, and use San Antonio’s forecast air quality data to plan ahead and take precautionary measures to reduce your pollution exposure. Improving ozone levels to less than 68 ppm could save roughly 24 lives per year. 3 The study authors suggest that current ozone levels (~73 ppm) may contribute to deaths from respiratory illness, indicating that a further rise in ozone to 80 ppm could result in even higher mortality. A 2017 study prepared for the City of San Antonio by environmental consulting group Ramboll Environ examined city health data from 2010 to 2014, concluding that nearly 4,700 residents died due to respiratory diseases during that four-year period. 2 The city moreover ranked 38th for high ozone nationally out of 229 included metropolitan areas. In 2019, San Antonio was rated an “F” for ozone pollution according to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air report. This property makes ozone more difficult to control and regulate, particularly in warm urban environments that have ideal conditions for ozone formation. Unlike most pollutants, ozone is not emitted directly into the atmosphere but rather is formed in the air from precursor pollutants reacting in sunlight. Ozone is a gas molecule, described as ‘smog’ at ground-level. Most often, unhealthy days were the result of high ozone. 1 Unhealthy days are defined as days in which either PM2.5 or ozone levels exceeded the federal threshold for 8-hour pollution. The San Antonio area had 49 days of unhealthy, ‘nonattainment’ air pollution in 2018. For further data regarding 2020 readings, please refer to the 'recent pollution levels' question as shown below in the text.ĭespite clean annual averages, daily fluctuations can contribute to unhealthy pollution events. May, July, and June were San Antonio’s most polluted months, respectively, with average AQIs of 54, 44, and 43. Spring and summer tend to be more polluted than the fall and winter. San Antonio's annual air quality averages a US air quality index, or AQI, of “good.” In 2019, monthly averages ranged from AQI 25 (“good”) in October to AQI 54 (“moderate”) in May. ![]()
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