|
Click on photo to view larger image
|
Ten years ago, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set more stringent national guidelines to protect public health, George S. (Tad) Aburn rolled up his sleeves and set out to establish the code system for one-hour ozone standards. These days, when you hear no Code Red air quality days reported, it was Aburn who led the effort to help the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) pioneer both the code system, and the push to hold other states accountable for pollution transport.
Aburn is the newly appointed director of MDE’s Air and Radiation Management Administration. “Tad has provided national leadership for Maryland’s air and radiation programs,” said Secretary Kendl P. Philbrick. “Throughout his 23-year career in public service, with tremendous knowledge and expertise in initiatives to reduce and control air pollution.”
Reducing Local Pollutant Emissions by 40 Percent
Aburn comes to the position from the agency’s Air Quality Planning and Monitoring Program where he served as program manager. He was responsible for implementing a wide variety of pollution control programs required by the Clean Air Act, reducing local pollutant emissions by 40 percent. His duties included State Implementation Plan (SIP) development, regulation adoption, urban airshed modeling, inventory development and air quality education and outreach.
“The Clean Air Act has been our challenge for ten years,” said Aburn. “We now have from 2006 to 2010 to meet newer, stricter 8-hour EPA Air Quality Requirements. We stand ready with our expertise to meet these goals, as Maryland has been benchmarked as the national model for Air Quality standardization practices.”
.
Aburn received an Environmental Engineering degree from Brown University in 1978. He resides in Harford County with his wife Joni and three daughters.
|
