Smog season ends on a plus

Today marks the end of smog season in metro Atlanta and it's been a better year for the city's air pollution. Air quality experts say pollution controls combined with good weather gave the area one of its easiest-breathing summers in a decade. This was the third-best year for air quality since the state started keeping track in 1998.

Gilmer County breaks smog standard

Gilmer County in north Georgia county recorded the state's worst smog yesterday – the first day of smog season. Gilmer County, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, broke federal ozone standards. A spokesperson says it's because Atlanta's air pollution blows north. Other Georgia counties have been caught with high levels of ground-level ozone this year. On April 17th, Augusta, Macon, Athens and the town of Dawsonville violated the limit.

Smog season underway

Smog season starts today. Metro Atlanta ranks 12th smoggiest in the nation according to the American Lung Association. That's up from 25th last year. Most of smog-forming pollution comes from vehicles.

Georgia's air pollution levels high

Smog season starts today. The American Lung Association released its annual State of the Air report, and the good news is that ozone levels are down across the country.

The bad news? Georgia has two of the most polluted cities in the country.

It’s no surprise to see Atlanta ranked number thirteen on the list of cities with the worst air pollution.

But to find tiny Rome number 24 on the list of Metropolitan Areas Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution, tied with Philadelphia and Hagerstown, Maryland, came as a shock to some residents.

Eric Lindberg, the county’s environmental service director, questions whether the air pollution here is as bad as it seems:

We know that the monitoring site is actually in a spot you would choose if you wanted to find the worst air, and that’s sort of led to some questions about the quality of the data.

Floyd County has been in non-attainment with the Clean Air Act for the past two years after the Environmental Protection Agency passed more stringent air quality guidelines.

Lindberg said he hopes more bio-diesel-powered school buses and new smoke stacks at a Georgia Power coal-fired power plant will knock Rome off the list next year.