Jefferson County has received the lowest possible score, F, for its average daily ozone levels between 2019-2021 in this year’s State of the Air study released by the American Lung Association (ALA).

But Jefferson County officials say the county meets national healthy air standards and has been meeting them since 2013.

Each year the ALA releases their State of the Air study with air quality report cards for over 200 metro areas and counties across the nation.

Between 2019 and 2021 Jefferson County had an average of 4.3 days each year where the ozone levels in the air were at risk of being harmful to “sensitive groups” such as children, the elderly, or those with preexisting conditions, according to the study.

High ozone levels can be contributed to things like car exhaust and factory smokestacks according to the ALA. The effects of these ozone levels in an area can include breathing problems, increased risk of diabetes, and reproductive harm for the people who live nearby, the ALA says.