Feds say that Nogales has some of the worst air quality in country

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Naomi Pescovitz - View Bio

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An Environmental Protection Agency report is out this month on areas with the worst air quality in the entire county and only one Arizona county made the list, Santa Cruz County, including the City of Nogales.

"We wake up coughing and, right now's the best time to enjoy the windows open, and we can't do that," Nogales resident Heidi Ortiz said.

Residents say they've been dealing with dusty air here for years, and they say, they've tried reaching out to public officials.

"They don't do anything, and they have done nothing, and they will never do nothing," Nogales resident William Wisdom said.

"I think congress forgot about Nogales, Arizona," Ortiz said.

In a new report, the EPA puts Nogales on list of areas that don't meet air quality standards, but the health department here says Nogales, Arizona isn't to blame.

"The bulk of the air quality issues originate in Mexico," Kevin Irvine with the Santa Cruz County Health Department said. "A lot of it comes from exhaust from burning over there from heating purposes, dust in the air from the unpaved roads."

"All the air comes from the south to the north, and then they chlorinate, they do some chlorinating along the Mexican border over there, and it just blows up in your house and you don't know to do and you're choked up with Chlorine, it's terrible," Wisdom said.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality says they're working closely with Mexico to bring some fresh air to the region, but they also say clearing that smog is taking some time.