Editing Los Angeles (section)

===Environmental issues===
{{Further|Pollution in California#Los Angeles air pollution}}
{{external media|width=210px|float=right|headerimage=|audio1=[https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/podcast/fighting-smog-in-los-angeles "Fighting Smog in Los Angeles"], ''Distillations'' Podcast, 2018 [[Science History Institute]]}}

Owing to geography, heavy reliance on automobiles, and the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, Los Angeles suffers from air pollution in the form of smog. The [[Los Angeles Basin]] and the [[San Fernando Valley]] are susceptible to [[Inversion (meteorology)|atmospheric inversion]], which holds in the exhausts from road vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, shipping, manufacturing, and other sources.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xdwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65|title=What can we do about smog?|last=Stimson|first=Thomas E.|date=July 1955|journal=[[Popular Mechanics]]|page=65|issn=0032-4558|access-date=October 6, 2011|archive-date=November 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106164903/https://books.google.com/books?id=xdwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Los Angeles Pollution (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Viewable smog in Los Angeles in December 2005]]
The smog season lasts from approximately May to October.<ref name="Information1983">{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJNJjq8h2zwC&pg=PA393|title=Smog Hangs Over Olympic Athletes|date=August 11, 1983|journal=New Scientist|page=393|issn=0262-4079|access-date=October 6, 2011}}</ref> While other large cities rely on rain to clear smog, Los Angeles gets only {{convert|15|in|mm|-1}} of rain each year: pollution accumulates over many consecutive days. Issues of air quality in Los Angeles and other major cities led to the passage of early national environmental legislation, including the [[United States Clean Air Act|Clean Air Act]]. When the act was passed, California was unable to create a [[State Implementation Plan]] that would enable it to meet the new air quality standards, largely because of the level of pollution in Los Angeles generated by older vehicles.<ref>"Early Implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1970 in California." EPA Alumni Association. Video, [https://www.epaalumni.org/userdata/pdf/2B9E3C6816EC9466.pdf#page=7 Transcript] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412020955/https://www.epaalumni.org/userdata/pdf/2B9E3C6816EC9466.pdf#page=7 |date=April 12, 2019 }} (see p7,10). July 12, 2016.</ref> More recently, the state of California has led the nation in working to limit pollution by mandating [[low-emission vehicle]]s. Smog is expected to continue to drop in the coming years because of aggressive steps to reduce it, which include [[Electric car|electric]] and [[Hybrid electric vehicle|hybrid]] cars, improvements in [[mass transit]], and other measures.

The number of Stage 1 smog alerts in Los Angeles has declined from over 100 per year in the 1970s to almost zero in the new millennium.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.usc.edu/76761/las-environmental-success-story-cleaner-air-healthier-kids/|title=L.A.'s Environmental Success Story: Cleaner Air, Healthier Kids|last1=Marziali|first1=Carl|date=March 4, 2015|website=USC News|access-date=March 16, 2015|archive-date=March 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310040251/http://news.usc.edu/76761/las-environmental-success-story-cleaner-air-healthier-kids/|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite improvement, the 2006 and 2007 annual reports of the [[American Lung Association]] ranked the city as the most polluted in the country with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution.<ref name="shortTermPollutedCities">{{cite web|url=http://www.stateoftheair.org/2013/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities.html|title=Most Polluted Cities|publisher=[[American Lung Association]]|access-date=January 12, 2015|archive-date=January 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107185644/http://www.stateoftheair.org/2013/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2008, the city was ranked the second most polluted and again had the highest year-round particulate pollution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citymayors.com/environment/polluted_uscities.html|title=Pittsburgh and Los Angeles the most polluted US cities|date=May 4, 2008|publisher=citymayors.com|access-date=October 7, 2011|archive-date=October 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002190451/http://www.citymayors.com/environment/polluted_uscities.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The city met its goal of providing 20 percent of the city's power from renewable sources in 2010.<ref name="Renewable Energy">{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-14/los-angeles-meets-20-percent-renewable-energy-goal.html|title=Los Angeles meets 20 percent renewable energy goal|date=January 14, 2011|work=[[Bloomberg News]]|access-date=October 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201090303/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-14/los-angeles-meets-20-percent-renewable-energy-goal.html|archive-date=February 1, 2011}}</ref> The American Lung Association's 2013 survey ranks the metro area as having the nation's worst smog, and fourth in both short-term and year-round pollution amounts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stateoftheair.org/2013/msas/los-angeles-long-beach-riverside-ca.html#ozone|title=American Lung Association State of the Air 2013 – Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA|work=American Lung Association State of the Air 2013|access-date=September 1, 2015|archive-date=August 31, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150831183049/http://www.stateoftheair.org/2013/msas/los-angeles-long-beach-riverside-ca.html#ozone|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Los Angeles is also home to the nation's largest urban [[oil field]]. There are more than 700 active oil wells within {{convert|1500|ft}} of homes, churches, schools and hospitals in the city, a situation about which the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|EPA]] has voiced serious concerns.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1109-fumes-20131109-story.html|title=EPA officers sickened by fumes at South L.A. oil field|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=November 9, 2013|access-date=March 24, 2016|archive-date=April 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408023944/http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1109-fumes-20131109-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>