July 15, 2015
Baltimore, MD – At a hearing in front of the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) today, citizen activists and concerned groups urged the Department to implement strong smog protections originally adopted in January 2015. Rather than implementing those protections, the Hogan Administration has proposed an inadequate, short term, and dramatically weakened half-measure to Maryland’s air pollution crisis. In fact, not a single person testified in support of these rules at the hearing.
“This process is wasting Marylanders’ time and their money,” said Joshua Tulkin, Director of the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club. “Solutions to our crippling air pollution problems already exist and, in fact, were finalized and signed by MDE in January of this year before the new administration rolled them back. We can solve this, but the half measures proposed by MDE simply aren’t up to the task. Maryland needs modern pollution controls on every coal fired power plant in the state.”
Today’s hearing centered around far weaker, stopgap smog rules that cover only a portion of the ground covered by the original protections. Over a 15-month period MDE had worked with a robust group of stakeholders to develop air pollution protections required by EPA, ultimately achieving a careful compromise that was endorsed by Raven Power, the Air Quality Control Advisory Council, the Maryland State Medical Society, Sierra Club and myriad others. These protections were formally adopted by MDE on January 16, 2015, and submitted the same day for publication in the Maryland Register, and were scheduled to take effect in February. However, as one of his first acts upon taking office, Governor Hogan pulled the safeguards just before they were to be printed.
"It is unacceptable that nearly half the coal plants in Maryland lack state of the art emission controls to reduce dangerous nitrogen oxide pollution,” said Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility. “This proposal does nothing to address this shortcoming."
Groups represented at today’s hearing, including Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington Area Interfaith Power and Light and others, urged MDE to implement and push for publication of the strong, originally-agreed upon protections. More than five million Marylanders live in areas that see significant smog pollution and 11 counties receive failing smog grades from the American Lung Association (ALA). According to the ALA, inhaling smog pollution is like getting sunburn on your lungs and often results in immediate breathing trouble. Long term exposure to smog pollution is linked to chronic asthma and other respiratory and lung diseases, reproductive and developmental harm, and even premature death.
There are many things that I can do to protect my children's health -- but when it comes to the air, aside from forcing my kids to stay inside on Code Orange and Red air quality days, there is nothing I can do as an individual, which is why I testified today, said Miranda Kosten, mother of one, who testified at the hearing. “As a mother, I call on the Maryland Department of the Environment to come up with a viable solution to improve Maryland's Air quality. We must hold the coal plants accountable and make it the law that they install modern pollution controls. I was horrified to learn that our state has some of the worst air quality in the country and that is unacceptable for our children and for all citizens living in this state.”
Smog pollution from power plants disproportionately affects communities of color and children. An alarming 20% of Baltimore City children under 18 have asthma, more than double the national average. Baltimore City has more than triple the state’s age-adjusted asthma hospitalization rate (42.9 per 10,000 people vs. 13.2) and nearly three times the state’s rate of emergency room visits due to asthma (203.3 per 10,000 people vs. 72.3). Baltimore City also has significantly higher asthma mortality rates (26.0 per million) than the state at large (11.8). Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest asthma hospitalization rates out of any group in Maryland – more than double the rate of non-Hispanic whites. Black Marylanders are over 4 times as likely as white Marylanders to visit the emergency department for asthma. Black Marylanders are over 3 times as likely as white, non-Hispanic Marylanders to visit the hospital for asthma. And Black Marylanders are nearly 2.5 times more likely to die from asthma than white Marylanders.