Editorial: SoCal is losing its fight against smog. Things have to turn around in 2021

[rangerrebew]

December 29, 2020
Editorial: SoCal is losing its fight against smog. Things have to turn around in 2021

by The Times Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
 

For a brief moment this year, Southern Californians got a glimpse of what clean air could look and feel like. During the first COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns in the spring, the dramatic drop in vehicle pollution combined with stormy weather to help clear out the region's notoriously smoggy, hazy air, leaving blue skies and crisp vistas.

It didn't last long. In fact, 2020 ended up being one of Southern California's smoggiest years in decades, The LA Times' Tony Barboza recently reported. There were 157 days when the region exceeded the federal health standard for ozone pollution, the main ingredient in smog. That's the most since 1997. The region has also had more than 30 days of excessive fine-particle pollution, or soot.

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-editorial-socal-smog.html

[rangerrebew]

I remember in the early 70s, my ship operating off Southern Mejifornia, seeing a smoke/smog bank 50 miles out to sea.  It was this brownish gray mass that that was maybe 100 feet high and extended as far as the eye could see.  They were cleaning it up then.  I guess they haven't made much headway in almost 50 years.