Poor air quality in Cincinnati is not one thing that many people expect to hear about. It’s such a small city with only a few people living in it, how can the air pollution be bad there? 1 Many people may ask the same question. Most fail to realize that the city and its surrounding metropolitan area is quite large, with many people commuting in and out of the areas as well. The Cincinnati metropolitan statistical area is a census designated area that covers southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky, and southeast Indiana. As of the 2010 census, there were an estimated 2.16 million people living within the MSA ("Data USA | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metro Area," n.d.). In 2017, there were an estimated 1.05 million jobs that were filled ("Data USA | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN …show more content…
While no research for the local area specifically states the cost to the local economy, air pollution costs the global economy $2.6 trillion each year (Yan, 2016). This is in addition to the great amount people spend each year on healthcare. Since 124,094 people already have conditions that are made worse by the air pollution, the cost to those living around the area must be great. Countless new cases could also possibly be attributed to air pollution as well, albeit, no data has been collected to support this. The cost of monitoring, enforcing, and education to control air pollution is staggering. The Ohio EPA spent $47 million for air poulltion control in 2016 ("Environmental Protection Agency," 2 n.d., p. 5). No data exists showing exactly how much was spent in the city and the metro area, we can safely assume a large amount was spent due to the large amount of people who live, work, and commute in Cincinnati. Environmental education cost the tax payers $22 million ("Environmental Protection Agency," 2 n.d., p. 7), with programs such as diesel emission grants, clean diesel school buses, and classroom