Tulsa Area Gets Bad Grade On Ozone Level

<p>The Tulsa area is ranked #12 out of 220 metro areas in the U.S. in number of high ozone or smog days in 2014. </p>

Wednesday, April 29th 2015, 10:15 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Area Gets Bad Grade On Ozone Level

The Tulsa area is ranked twelfth out of 220 metro areas in the U.S. for the number of high ozone or smog days in 2014.

The good news is it ranked #1 for the cleanest metropolitan area for 24-hour particle pollution for the same period.

The American Lung Association's "State of the Air 2015" report released this week gave the Tulsa area a grade of "F" with 57 ozone days in 2014.

The Tulsa area includes Creek and Tulsa counties as well as parts of Osage, Wagoner and Washington counties.

Other eastern Oklahoma counties with an "F" ranking included Adair, Cherokee, Mayes, Ottawa, Pittsburg and Sequoyah.

The association said the Tulsa area cut its number of ozone days by almost 8 compared to the previous year.

The report says that nationwide, more than 4 in 10 Americans -- nearly 138.5 million people -- live in counties where ozone levels make the air unhealthy to breathe.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.