“We still have reason to be concerned about the air in so much of Idaho,” said Kristin Matthews, Executive Director of the American Lung Association® of Idaho. “Our winter inversions in our mountain communities, our summer smog in our heavily-populated regions, and the results of wildfires that are a part of every summer in the state, are all cause for concern to the one in four Idahoans who have difficulty breathing as a result of lung or heart disease. When you can’t breathe easily, nothing else really matters.”

Ada County, Idaho’s most populated county, moved up from a “B” rating to an “A” for having so few ozone days over the last three years. And all of the counties in the Treasure Valley received that same high mark for air quality, in large part for the strong efforts being made throughout the region to reduce air pollution and encourage alternative transportation methods.
Only two counties in the state saw their scores dropping in this year’s “State of the Air” report. Power County’s grade for particulate matter dropped from a “B” to a “C” and Shoshone County dropped from a “C” to an “F” in the same pollution category.

Read the full report for Idaho.