NPR

Air Quality Disparities Persist Despite Overall Gains

A new study finds that the U.S. places with the most polluted air in the 1980s remain the most polluted today. Poor people and people of color are more likely to live in places with dirty air.
Air pollution is a persistent problem in California's Central Valley. A new study finds that the places that were most polluted nearly 40 years ago generally remain the most polluted today.

The places with the most severe air pollution nearly 40 years ago remain among the most polluted places today, according to a new study that uses historical air pollution data to track disparities in air quality over time.

Decades of research and the lived experiences of millions of Americans have established that people in the United States do not

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