The Madison area was ranked as one of the worst places in the nation for particle pollution in the air in a new study from the American Lung Association.
The report—State of the Air 2011—ranked the Madison area, including areas near the Wisconsin Dells, No. 24 nationwide for the amount of pollutants in the air.
""State of the Air 2011 tells us that the Clean Air Act is working, based on trends nationwide, but people living in parts of Wisconsin are still breathing levels of ozone or particle pollution that are unhealthy,"" American Lung Association in Wisconsin Executive Director Sue Swan said in a statement.
The report assigns academic letter grades for the amount of particle pollution such as smog or soot air levels for a certain county.
This year, the Madison area received a grade of F for air pollution.
""Emissions from coal-fired power plants and vehicle exhaust are major sources of air pollution,"" Swan said in a statement.
