Connecticut’s air quality is worsening, new report says

CT Insider – Sunday, April 27, 2025
By Cris Villalonga-Vivoni

A burnt orange sky and the smell of smoke across the state is a memory deeply ingrained in the minds of Connecticut residents. Going outside, even for a moment, would leave a person smelling of smoke and their lungs irritated by the invisible pollutants.

Winds from the West blew smoke into parts of New England from wildfires raging through Canada in 2023. Although the smoke cleared, a new report from the American Lung Association found that impact on Connecticut’s air quality continues to be felt, experiencing more days of poor air quality than previous years.

“The reality is there are times it’s just not good to be outside, and if we don’t take action, the estimates are that the number of those days are going to double over time,” said Dr. David Hill, director of clinical research at Waterbury Pulmonary Associates. “It’s going to become very hard to be outside breathing.”

The association’s 26th edition of the State of the Air report is an annual look at the impact of two air pollutants – ground-level ozone, or smog, and spikes in fine particulate matter, or soot – across the nation.

The newest report, which looks at the latest air quality data from 2021-2023, shows that nearly half – or 46% – of Americans nationwide live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution, an increase from previous years. People of color make up 41.2% of the overall population of the U.S., but the report found that they make up 50.2% of the people living in a county with at least one failing grade. In addition, 19 million people with incomes meeting the federal poverty definition live in similar counties.

Historically, western states, like California, have reported higher rates of air pollution due to extreme heat and wildfires. Still, the report shows that the wind is shifting for the East Coast as states report more unhealthy air days.

The New Haven-Waterbury-Hartford metro area is the country’s 38th most polluted metro area for ozone, worse than in previous years. It’s also ranked the 70th worst for daily spikes or short-term particle pollution.

Fairfield County also received a failing air quality grade and recorded over 20 unhealthy ozone days, making it the worst county in the New York City metro area again. In addition, the number of unhealthy ozone and particle pollution days tripled in Litchfield County.

“All of Connecticut has bad air quality, and a lot of it is not from local sources. It’s the jet stream carrying things into our air,” said Hill, a Lung Association’s National Board of Directors member.

Although this is the first time researchers are seeing the effects of the 2023 Canadian wildfires on the air pollution trends, Hill said he doesn’t anticipate seeing many improvements in the following report after New England started seeing more of its own brush fires. In 2024, there were five times more fires reported in Connecticut than in previous years, burning 416 acres.

Hill said climate change is a driving force behind the rise in ozone and particle pollution, noticing that hot, humid days are often when he and other medical providers see a spike in heat-related issues. Exposure to either smog or soot may lead to asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, stroke, or even premature death. Some populations, such as young children, are more at risk of experiencing adverse health effects caused by air pollution exposure, but he said it ultimately affects everyone.

Solutions to the environmental problems require preventative, monitoring and cleaning efforts across local, state and federal levels, said Ruth Canovi, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in Connecticut.

She said several state Senate and House bills to start and maintain initiatives for renewable energy and other climate conscious efforts are making their way through the legislative process. This includes a Constitutional resolution that aims to ensure environmental rights.

However, since a majority of the air pollution in Connecticut is blown in from across state lines, Canovi said that local efforts must be coupled with federally funded research and initiatives to be fully effective. This comes at a time when the Trump administration has rolled back some environmental protections and eliminated grant programs focused on improving the environment in minority communities.

However, Canovi said these sudden changes and uncertainty don’t reverse almost “half a century’s worth of work,” indicating the importance of continuing to build on the historical efforts.

“We’re paying close attention and going to do all that we can to protect people’s health and the quality of the air that we breathe,” she said.

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