Albany

Skies over the Capital Region have been getting cleaner every year, thanks mainly to stricter federal air pollution rules, according to the latest annual air quality report released Tuesday by the American Lung Association.

Air pollution sensors in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties are finding fewer days with unsafe ozone levels, also known as smog, which causes lung damage and aggravates respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

Ground-level ozone is an oxygen molecule formed through a combination of fossil fuel exhaust, which when combined with sunlight and temperature can form smog. It is worse on hot days and often dissipates at night. Ozone in the upper atmosphere helps protect Earth from solar radiation.

There were 10 such unsafe ozone days combined from 2009 to 2011 in the Capital Region, about a quarter of the total days cited from the 2011 annual report. "We are seeing many improvements in New York's air," said Michael Seilback, a vice president of the American Lung Association of New York. The report, now in its 14th year, the report is based on air quality data from monitors run in the four counties by the state.

From May to September, the Department of Environmental Conservation issues ozone alerts, which advise people to limit strenuous outdoor work or exercise. The state also urges people to use mass transit or carpool instead of driving because automobile emissions also contribute to pollution that causes ozone.

Seilback credited the lifting of smog from Capital Region skies to stricter rules adopted under the Clean Air Act during the Clinton administration that required coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide, a prime ingredient of ozone. Many power plants are concentrated in the Ohio River valley, where emissions can drift over the Northeast.

Also helping clean the air in recent years, he added, is the decreasing use of coal in electric power plants. Some older coal-fired plants are closing, while others are adding more pollution control equipment to meet stricter federal rules. Falling natural gas prices have also encouraged some plant owners to switch from coal to natural gas, which burns more cleanly.

In New York state, for example, coal now provides about 3 percent of all electricity generated in the state, down from about 15 percent just six years ago.

"We are seeing the mothballing and retirement of older coal plants, like Danskammer in the Hudson Valley," said Seilback. "We are starting to see the effects of these closures, and will continue to see them as long as the price disparities between coal and gas exist."

The declining price of natural gas is being driven by an abundance of gas derived from hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which is being done by drillers in Pennsylvania and other states. Seilback said while natural gas may be helping to create cleaner air by discouraging the use of coal, the lung association remains opposed to allowing hydrofracking in New York unless it can be shown not to pollute the air. "New York should not lift its moratorium on hydrofracking unless it can be shown that air quality will not get worse," Seilback said.

Nationally, air quality also continues to improve, the report found. Since 1970, the "air has gotten cleaner, while the population, the economy, energy use and miles driven have increased greatly," the report found. "Even after the economy continues to recover after the recession, overall air emissions ... continue to drop."

bnearing@timesunion.com • 518-454-5094 • @Bnearing10

Federal air pollution rules are leading to increasingly cleaner air in the Capital Region, which is good new for people with asthma and other breathing disorders. The number of unsafe smog days in the region — Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties — continues to plummet, according to an annual report by the American Lung Association.

Years ... Number of Unsafe Days

2009-11 ... 10

2008-10 ... 24

2007-09 ... 42

2006-08 ... 44

2005-07 .. 53

SOURCE: American Lung Association