SMOG'S DIRTY GRASP EASING.

Byline: Erik N. Nelson Staff Writer

Los Angeles and Long Beach led the nation in the most improved air quality, reducing their smog levels by 85 percent during the past two decades, according to a study released Thursday.

Of 323 U.S. metropolitan areas, the Los Angeles region ranked first in reducing the number of smoggy days that exceed federal air quality standards for ozone.

Orange County placed second, followed by the San Diego, Riverside-San Bernardino and Ventura County areas, according to the Foundation for Clean Air Progress, based in Washington, D.C.

``This is confirming what we've been saying for some time. We really have had dramatic improvement in Southern California,'' said Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which monitors and regulates air emissions in most of Southern California.

``It's very evident here, from AQMD Headquarters in Diamond Bar, that the San Gabriel Mountains stand out starkly and beautifully, particularly in summertime (peak smog season), many more days than they used to.''

In the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, the number of days in which ozone pollution exceeded federal standards dropped from an average of 154.3 per year during the early 1980s to just 23 days a year in the late 1990s - a dramatic 85 percent reduction.

The average number of high-ozone days in the Riverside-San Bernardino area, usually the most polluted Southland locale, dropped from 158 to 53 days over two decades - a 66 percent reduction.

And in Ventura County, the average number of unhealthy smoggy days dropped from 60.7 to only three - a 95 percent drop. The foundation's rankings were based on the number of smoggy days and the percentage drop from 1980 to 1999.

``What a couple of decades ago was thought to be the dirtiest city in the country now shows the greatest clean-air progress in the country,'' said Bill Buff, spokesman for the foundation, which based the list on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The credit for improvement ``belongs squarely on the shoulders of every American,'' Buff said. ``We're making a significant investment in cleaner fuels, cleaner cars and cleaner power sources'' - in the range of $1.7 billion a year, he said.

According to the foundation, which represents interests ranging from the American Automobile Association to oil companies and coal-burning utilities, the number of bad ozone days declined 43 percent nationally during the past two decades.

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Box: BREATHING EASIER

SOURCE: Foundation for Clean Air Progress