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Residents of Maryland will undoubtedly remember 2010 as a record breaker when it comes to the weather. In the winter, snowfall wasn’t measured by the inch but by the foot. During the summer, the official weather station at Thurgood Marshall BWI Airport recorded a record- breaking 59 days when the temperature equaled or exceeded 90 degrees.
With this record heat, many probably assumed the state had a record number of “unhealthy air days” when ozone standards were exceeded. But that was not the case.
If anything, the air quality readings during the hot summer showed that pollution control programs are making a real difference in Maryland.
Based on preliminary data, this past summer Maryland experienced 43 days in which the ozone level, averaged over eight hours, exceeded the federal standard. The record is 88 exceedance days in 1980.
This is all the more encouraging in that the current eight-hour ozone standard of 75 parts per billion is much more stringent than the one-hour ozone standard of 125 parts per billion.
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), known as ozone precursors, are emitted from power plants, automobiles, lawn mowers, and other sources. In the warm summer months, these NOx and VOCs react in the presence of sunlight to form ozone, which exacerbates respiratory conditions such as asthma.
As a result of the Maryland Healthy Air Act, Maryland is successfully reducing NOx emissions by installing controls on large power plants. States along the Ohio River Valley are also installing controls on large power plants, leading to a reduction in the transport of these pollutants into Maryland.
Even with this significant progress, Maryland is not attaining the current ozone standard. In addition, by next summer, EPA is expected to issue an even more stringent standard. New or expanded pollution reduction programs will need to be implemented in Maryland and in states that transport their pollution into Maryland so we can meet air quality standards. Maryland continues to work at the Federal level and with other States, including as part of the Ozone Transport Commission, to reduce air pollution from out of state.
Click here to learn more about data collected by MDE’s air quality monitoring program.
Click here for information on EPA’s air quality standards.
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