By Craig Anderson

DOVER — Delawareans can control their collective fate to some degree when it comes to air pollution.

While the state fared well in the 2024 “State of the Air” report recently released by the American Lung Association, improvements can be made.

Kent and Sussex counties earned A grades in fine particle pollution for the 13th straight year, while New Castle County received a B.

And, according to a news release, “Delaware’s New Castle and Kent counties, improved to its best-ever results for ozone smog for the third consecutive year, but continued to post failing grades, with the area ranking most polluted in the Mid-Atlantic and 35th worst in the nation for the measure.

“Additionally, while Kent County again remained unchanged at its ‘B’ grade for ozone pollution, New Castle County improved to a ‘C,’ its second passing grade after last year’s ‘D,’ which nevertheless means there are still too many days with poor air quality. Meanwhile ... Sussex County earned its second ‘A’ grade by recording zero days with unhealthy levels of ozone.”

Taken as a whole, the American Lung Association’s chief mission officer Deb Brown said, “this report really does find that Delaware air quality has mixed results. We have some really good performances, and then, we have some continuing challenges.”

However, there are a bevy of ways residents can contribute to reducing air pollution, she said.

“When you can walk, or you can bike or use clean public transportation over diesel- or gas-powered vehicles, that’s a good thing to do,” she noted.

“You can conserve electricity and purchase power from clean, noncombustible sources. When you have your heater or air conditioner on, you can adjust your thermostat by just 1 degree, and that not only saves you money but also helps reduce the energy use.”

Ms. Brown said the association continues to monitor the Environmental Protection Agency’s watch over the Clean Air Act, “which can only help us if it’s enforced.”

Additionally, she said she believes that an increased number of electric vehicles is improving air pollution grades, along with clean energy use and home energy efficiencies.

As far as the results of troubling air pollution, “both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life,” the release stated.

“Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer.”

Further, while air pollution was once most concerning during May through September, Ms. Brown said that time frame has stretched out due to climate change.

For example, she said, “I saw a forecast for Monday that temperatures were going to be in the 80s.”

Overall, Ms. Brown added, “Delaware has really made some great progress. We’ve adopted some new healthy air policies that are really helping us and are heading to more zero-emission vehicles and will see some health benefits from that.

“But I also just encourage Delawareans to support state policies that improve our air quality overall.”

For information on the report, visit lung.org/research/sota.