And that's what we have right now.

Well, that's not true.

The U.

S doesn't have the cleanest air.

In fact, it's far from it.

A Reuters investigation found that America's air might be dirtier than you think, partly due to the broad failure of the country's air monitoring system.

Let's take a closer look.

In 2019, an oil refinery exploded in Philadelphia.

It released £700 of hazardous chemicals on about 3 £200 of Hydrofluoric acid, which can cause fatal lung injury.

According to residents.

Several dozen people sought hospital treatment, but oddly enough, Philadelphia's air quality monitors registered one of the year's cleanest dates.

On the day of the explosion.

Reuters, Tim McLaughlin, inexplicably oil refinery officials and the Philadelphia Department of Health said that the explosions had no effect on the quality of air in the city.

Nothingto worry about, but what we found is that the government's air monitoring device closest to the refinery was not even operating on the day of the explosion on this was not an isolated incident across the country.

There are nearly 4000 air pollution devices, all run by the U.

S air pollution monitoring network, overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency or the E P A.

But a Reuters investigation found that the network routinely missed major toxic releases on day to day pollution dangers.

It identified no risks from 10 of the biggest refinery explosions over the past decade.

So how is this possible?

The U.

S air pollution monitoring network is somewhat old, underfunded and too sparse to give a proper reading off the quality of air being breathed by Americans every day, according to the EPA.

Many of the monitors designed to capture small particle pollution have accuracy problems.

In addition, more than 120 million Americans live in counties without monitors to track this type of pollution, academics and regulators say.

The networks problems are many, and varied monitors are sparsely and poorly placed.

The program is underfunded on the network is not equipped to meet current pollution threats.

But independent scientists agree on one point.

The systems failures pose a serious public health risk.

A 2013 Obama administration study detailed a number of problems within the network, but the weakness is largely remained today because neither the Obama nor the Trump Administration put up the money to invest heavily into it.

Community groups are setting up their own networks.

That's because they don't believe the air in their neighborhoods is as clean as what government monitors said.

What we'll see in the next decade is a significant increase in monitoring done by community groups, especially in poor neighborhoods.

This will likely put pressure on the EPA to bolster its own network Go.