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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: In 2018, NC Cities Hit Nearly 100 High Air-Pollution Days

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Tuesday, February 25, 2020   

RALEIGH, N.C. -- City-dwellers in North Carolina spent several months breathing elevated levels of air pollution in 2018, according to a new report from the Environment America Research and Policy Center. Environmental Protection Agency data were analyzed from statewide air-quality monitors for two types of pollutants - ozone and fine particulate matter.

The findings showed 100 days of high air pollution in Winston-Salem, 90 days in Durham-Chapel Hill, 80 days in Greensboro-Highpoint, and 75 days in Raleigh. Jamie Lockwood, climate and clean energy associate at Environment North Carolina, said even moderate increases can pose serious health risks.

"Moderate levels of air pollution have still been linked to increased risks of heart attack, different forms of cancer, premature deaths, and in pregnant women, higher risk of stillbirths, of low birth weight and premature birth," Lockwood said.

She added even air quality that meets federal standards can be dangerous with prolonged exposure, noting current EPA standards are more relaxed than those recommended by the World Health Organization.

The cleanest air was found in Cullowhee, in the Western part of the state. Its air monitors reported just nine days of elevated air pollution in 2018.

Lockwood said emissions from cars, trucks and buses are the main culprit.

"So, in North Carolina, 70% of our air pollution that contributes to this problem is from transportation," she said.

She said the hotter and drier weather on the horizon from a changing climate could worsen air pollution across the state.

"Also, as climate change increases, we have a higher risk of more frequent and more intense forest fires, and that's going to dramatically decrease our air quality throughout the year as well," Lockwood said.

According to data from NASA, since the 1980s, the wildfire season has lengthened across a quarter of the world's forests. And, in states like California, wildfires are now a year-round risk.

Reporting by North Carolina News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the Park Foundation



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