Is the Lehigh Valley smoggy?

According to the PennEnvironment Research Center, Yes.

The environmental group's study ranks the state of Pennsylvania the sixth smoggiest state in the nation, and it has some interesting findings for the Lehigh Valley area.

The study ranks the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area as the 13th smoggiest metropolitan area in the nation of similarly sized municipalities.

It's not Los Angeles, but the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area has a lot of smog.

"Pennsylvanians deserve clean air but on far too many days residents of the Allentown area and across the state are exposed to dangerous smog pollution," said Meredith Meisenheimer, from the PennEnvironment research Center.

PennEnvironment took information from Environmental Protection Agency monitors.

The report shows in 2010 the area had 12 smog days and nine additional days of air quality that was unhealthy for people to breathe.

Some scientists are not surprised at the numbers given the low elevation of the Lehigh Valley and the number of people that commute in our area.

"Traditionally Pennsylvania is a pretty industrial state and air pollution is pretty common for that sort of thing as well as different things contribute to that such as vehicle use and consumer products as well," said Suzanne Horst, science educator at DaVinci Science Center.

The statistics are still troubling to local state lawmakers especially after money was cut from the EPA in Harrisburg.

"This data is very important for policy makers to consider as we consider environmental standards," said PA Representative Steve Samuelson, a Democrat from Lehigh and Northampton counties.

Those fighting air pollution feel now that we know there is a problem with air quality, now is the time to do something about cleaning it up.

Scientist say if we don't, more people will develop breathing problems like asthma.

"We need to look closely at alternative transportation, mass transit options, car-pooling and companies and governments locally and regionally need to incentives these activities," said Chris Cocca of Air Quality Partnership of Lehigh Valley.

The PennEnvironment group says they hope that the federal government passes tougher air quality guidelines, something President Obama promised to do when he ran for office.