Bianca Sanchez, bianca.sanchez@sierraclub.org
HARTFORD, CT. – A new Sierra Club study has found that all 3.6 million Connecticut residents live in areas with unsafe smog levels. Local smog levels have exceeded the minimum federal air quality standard by over 40% in recent years, according to the report. As summer ushers in warmer weather and increased sunlight, poor air quality is particularly concerning. Vehicle emissions and other heavily polluting sources mix with sunlight to form smog that worsens respiratory illnesses, causing asthma attacks and bronchitis.
According to the recently-released Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Greenhouse Gas Inventory, transportation emissions have increased four percent since 2021. Accounting for the largest share of pollution of any industry, the transportation sector is currently not on track to achieve the state’s mandated 2030 greenhouse gas reductions.
In Connecticut's communities of color and low-income communities, smog levels from transportation pollution are especially high. Emergency room visits for asthma attacks among Black children ages 2 to 17 in Connecticut are over five times more frequent than similar visits among white children. Black Connecticut residents of all ages are three times as likely, and Hispanic residents of all ages are twice as likely, to die from asthma than their white neighbors.
On high smog days, pollution from vehicles in the state contributes 5.48 ppb of ozone to the state’s nonattainment areas. That is nearly eight times what EPA considers a legally “significant contribution” sufficient to bring an entire state under emissions reduction requirements.
In March, state leaders failed to pass the Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Trucks rules, delaying necessary relief to Connecticut residents with respiratory illnesses. Eleven states have adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) standards. Thirteen states, plus Washington, DC, have adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) standards. Across the northeast, Connecticut’s neighboring states have adopted both.
In response to the new report, Sierra Club Connecticut Chapter Director Samantha Dynowski released the following statement:
“All people deserve access to clean air. Right now, our state’s overburdened environmental justice communities need urgent relief from smog and its devastating public health consequences. Adoption of the ACCII and ACT rules is critical to reducing climate-warming emissions and increasing access to the clean cars and trucks residents want for their health and wallet.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.