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MONDAY, APRIL 27-MAY 03, 2026
Surprise, surprise: LA area, IE again top country for smog pollution
Bass, Barger, Trump seek accountability for wildfire insurers
By City News Service
By Joe Taglieri
T
he Los Angeles-Long Beach area retained its dubious distinction as the nation’s smoggiest region, with ozone pollution getting worse over the past year, according to an annual report by the American Lung Association. The region has been ranked the worst area for ozone pollution in 26 of the past 27 years of the association’s “State of the Air” report. But the Southland isn’t alone in its misery. According to the latest report released Tuesday, nearly half of all American children live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution. “Clean air is not something we can take for granted. It takes work,” Harold Wimmer, president/ CEO of the American Lung Association, said in a statement. “For decades, people in the U.S. have breathed cleaner air thanks to the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, that progress is now at risk due to extreme heat and wildfires, fueled by climate change, and policy changes that are making the problem worse. “Now is the time to strengthen air pollution standards, but EPA is doing the opposite. In the last year, EPA has weakened enforcement and rolled back rules that would have protected kids from power plant and vehicle pollution. Children need clean air to grow and play, and communities need clean air to thrive. Leaders at every level must act to improve and protect America’s air quality.” The report found that 44% of people in the United States live in a county that received a failing grade in at least one of the study’s three measures of air pollution, with 32.9 million people living in counties that earned poor grades in
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joet@beaconmedianews.com
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A smoggy day in LA. | Photo courtesy of Massimo Catarinella/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
all three categories. People of color are more than twice as likely as white people to live in areas that failed in all three categories. Hispanic people are more than three times as likely as white people to live in such areas. The Los Angeles-Long Beach area ranked the worst in the nation in terms of ozone pollution. Three other California communities placed in the top five in terms of smog, with Visalia placing second behind LA/Long Beach, followed by Bakersfield-Delano; Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona; and Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran placing fifth. “Ground-level ozone pollution, also known as smog, is a powerful respiratory irritant whose effects have been likened to a sunburn of the lungs,” according to the Lung Association. “Inhaling ozone can cause shortness of breath, trigger coughing and asthma attacks, and can cause premature death. Though progress has been made over the years to clean up ozone, that progress is fragile, and more communities are seeing their worst ozone levels in years.”
The Los Angeles-Long Beach region was again ranked the seventh-most polluted region in the country for short-term particle pollution, the same ranking as last year. The region was also seventhworst for year-round particle pollution, an improvement from last year, when the area ranked fifth. The short- term figure represents daily spikes in particle pollution, or soot, while the year-round figure is an annual average. On a countywide level, San Bernardino County was ranked as the nation’s most ozone-polluted place to live, followed by Riverside, Los Angeles, Tulare and Kern counties. Kern County also topped the list as the most polluted county for yearround particle pollution. Los Angeles and Riverside counties all earned failing grades in the report for all three pollution categories, as did Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Merced, San Bernardino, Stanislaus and Tulare counties. The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which works to improve air quality in most of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties,
issued a statement saying the Lung Association report does not reflect “significant progress” being made to improve the air. “The region has seen a long-term decline in unhealthy ozone days and harmful pollution levels,” according to the AQMD. “Notably, 2025 recorded some of the lowest ozone levels on record, demonstrating continued improvement in air quality,” the agency reported. “However, a few of the high pollution days captured in this year’s report were driven by largescale wildfires — events that are increasing in frequency and intensity. ... “Progress toward clean air depends on strong partnerships at every level. South Coast AQMD will continue working with communities, businesses, and state and federal agencies to advance solutions that protect public health for all, while delivering critical benefits to sensitive populations, including children, by reducing exposure to harmful emissions and supporting clean air initiatives in communities where families live, learn, and play.”
os Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger met Wednesday with President Donald Trump at the White House to lobby for federal support for wildfire survivors and insurance company accountability. Bass and Barger released a joint statement following their afternoon meeting in the Oval Office: “We met with President Trump and Administration officials to advocate for families who lost everything,” the mayor and District 3 supervisor said. “We had a very positive discussion about FEMA and other rebuilding funds, as well as the support of the President to continue joining us in pressuring the insurance companies to pay what they owe — and for the big banks to step up to ease the financial pressure on LA families. “Our job is to fight for our communities,” the statement continued. “When it comes to this recovery, our federal partners are essential, and we are grateful for the support of the President.” Bass and Barger’s meeting with Trump followed the president last month accused insurance companies of abandoning LA-area residents impacted by the devastating wildfires. On his social media platform, Trump said State Farm and other insurance companies were “horrendous” for failing homeowners who had paid their premiums. “Insurance companies, in particular, State Farm, have been absolutely horrible to people that have been paying them large premiums for years, only to find that when tragedy struck, these horrendous companies were not
See Wildfire insurers Page 28
there to help!” Trump posted on Truth Social. He ordered Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to conduct a report on insurers that acted “swiftly, courageously and bravely” to respond to customers’ claims, and “those companies that were particularly bad” at meeting their legal obligations to pay out. Trump directed Zeldin to visit Southern California earlier this year, when the EPA chief met with Bass, Barger and county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. Barger’s 5th District contains Altadena and Eaton Fire-impacted areas, while Pacific Palisades in is in Horvath’s District 3. Trump has criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bass for their response to the January 2025 wildfires, blaming them for the disaster and the slow pace of recovery efforts. According to the governor’s office, he “has taken unprecedented action to remove barriers that slow recovery and ensure bureaucracy does not stand between families and their return home.” Altadena resident Aurora Barboza Flores received nine additional mortgage payments under the expanded CalAssist program, bringing total assistance to a full year. “It’s a huge relief. If you ask any Altadena resident who’s rebuilding, any of us who have been displaced or lost our homes, the cost is really our biggest stressor,” she said in a statement from the governor’s office. “It’s what we carry on our shoulders, what we go to sleep with, what we wake up with. That this decision was made at the state level tells us there is a conscious effort to help us rebuild.”