Air Quality

Stay home, close the doors, draw the shades, forget the lawn, raise the thermostat, keep the kids inside, do not paint the deck, do not paint your fingernails, do not touch the barbecue fluid and, Baltimore, do not - repeat, DO NOT - apply hair- spray. It was an Ozone Action Day. Yesterday was not only Ozone Action Day but also the first OAD of the Ozone Season, which is now an annual event in Maryland life, marking the languid stretch of days ranging from May 1 to Sept. 30, corresponding with highway vacations and outdoor barbecues and the mindless pleasure of applying the power of crude rotary engines to the art of gardening.

Air quality will be poor in Baltimore on Sunday, according to state officials. Higher than normal air pollution concentrations could threaten sensitive groups like children, the elderly and people with asthma, heart disease or lung disease. People who may fall into these categories should avoid strenous activity or exercise outdoors. Late Saturday, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued Sunday's code orange air quality alert for the Baltimore metro region. More information about the alert can be found on the Department of the Enviornment's website or by calling the Maryland Air Quality Hotline at 410-537-3247.

Richard Morgan tried and failed to trade his 2000 Toyota in the federal government's "cash for clunkers" program, but on Saturday he got a deal from the state of Maryland that was almost as good. He dumped his gas-hog Honda power mower and replaced it with a brand-new, deeply discounted, battery-powered rig. "Mowing your lawn is like driving from here to Pittsburgh," said the 51-year-old Columbia resident, citing a comparison that underscores the environmental damage caused by small gasoline engines.

Just in time for the start of ozone season, the Environmental Protection Agency officially reminds us that Baltimoreans are still breathing unhealthful levels of pollution in their air in late spring and summer. The city and its suburbs were among 45 metro areas nationwide that EPA listed on Tuesday as being in "nonattainment" with air quality standards set in 2008 for ground-level ozone, or smog. Ozone is the byproduct of chemicals emitted in vehicle exhaust and from a wide variety of other sources, including power plants and factories.

Air quality will be poor in Baltimore on Sunday, according to state officials. Higher than normal air pollution concentrations could threaten sensitive groups like children, the elderly and people with asthma, heart disease or lung disease. People who may fall into these categories should avoid strenous activity or exercise outdoors. Late Saturday, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued Sunday's code orange air quality alert for the Baltimore metro region. More information about the alert can be found on the Department of the Enviornment's website or by calling the Maryland Air Quality Hotline at 410-537-3247.

The air we breathe may not the cleanest in the country, but it's getting better all the time. A recent report from the American Lung Association found the Baltimore-Washington corridor has shown improvement in air quality in recent years. There are many reasons for this, and some have little to do with public policy decisions. The economic recession has reduced driving, industrial activity and energy consumption generally, a fact that has improved air quality in most places over the past two years.

A consulting firm hired by Anne Arundel County schools to test air quality at Edgewater Elementary School will meet with the school community on Tuesday. Ed Light, president of Ashton-based Building Dynamics LLC, said Friday that the company is conducting comprehensive evaluations and reviewing parents' and staff concerns. He said Building Dynamics will meet with the Edgewater community at 7 p.m. Tuesday and that a report would be issued when the firm's study is complete. Two weeks ago, a group of Edgewater parents, teachers, staff and students gathered at a school board public hearing and implored Anne Arundel school officials to prioritize improvements to the school's aging structure, which they say is fraught with health concerns.

If you see a large aircraft flying particularly low over the Interstate 95 corridor Sunday, don't panic. It will only be NASA, taking air quality samples. The space agency said that as part of its DISCOVER-AQ air quality field campaign, it will send a P-3B research plane over Northeast Maryland and the main route between Baltimore and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. NASA said the 117-foot, four-engine turboprop plane will flay as low as 1,000 feet above the ground as it does its part in a mission to improve the ability of satellites to measure ground-level air quality from space.

On an evening when the weather was unseasonably warm, the Edgewater Elementary School cafeteria was uncomfortably stuffy. Doors were opened to allow cooler air inside, providing some relief for dozens of parents, students and staff who assembled last week to hear a preliminary report on air quality at the school. Moments later, it was the report's findings that seemed to make many people uncomfortable. Parents said despite the fact that an independent consulting firm plans to take steps to control the mold growth it discovered in the school, they are still concerned about health issues for students.

The General Assembly passed three environmental protection measures in its recently concluded session that affect fly ash, air quality and storm-water management, according to the county. The legislation strengthens existing regulations requiring air quality monitoring for coal fly ash and extends the statute of limitations for storm-water management plans to three years, providing consistent enforcement of environmental laws. The legislation also requires the state to include county reimbursement claims for environmental health monitoring and testing, in cases where the state collects fines.

Baltimore's air is healthier to breathe than it used to be, but the region still has some of the nation's worst smog and soot pollution, according to the American Lung Association. In its annual report on the state of the nation's air, the advocacy group says the greater Baltimore-Washington region had nearly 41 fewer days of high ozone levels during 2010, the most recent year for which verified federal air-quality data are available. But the region still had the 13th most bad smog days out of 277 metropolitan areas across the country.

The Boston Marathon turned out to be a hot, sweaty, grueling race for even the most experienced runners. The Boston Globe reported that more than 2,100 people were treated for heat exhaustion, dehydration and other illnesses because of temperatures that reached well into the 80s during Monday's race. It was one of those races where people were just grateful to finish. There probably weren't too many personal records that day. It could be a sign for what's to come for the rest of the running season, which may shape up to be a toasty one. But that's no reason for people to retire their running shoes for the season.

Those who travel by MARC train to get to work are in for a treat as Harford Commuter Assistance, elected officials and special guests will be on hand from 5:30 to 9 a.m. at the Edgewood MARC Train Station May 2, and the Aberdeen MARC Train Station May 8 with giveaways and light refreshments as well as commuting information as part of May's designation as Clean Commute Month. These are commuters who, day after day, board the MARC train heading south to Baltimore and other destinations, includingWashington, D.C.to get to work.

The Curtis Bay and Brooklyn neighborhoods in industrialized South Baltimore are among the most polluted in Maryland and even the nation, says a Washington-based environmental group, which is calling for tighter scrutiny of air quality there and curbs on diesel truck emissions. Drawing on federal data, the Environmental Integrity Project says the Curtis Bay zip code has the highest toxic air pollution from businesses and factories in the state, accounting for more than a third of all such emissions in the state and nearly 90 percent of of Baltimore city's total.  The neighborhood's emissions also rank 74th highest among all 8,948 zip codes nationwide, according to the group's report.

On an evening when the weather was unseasonably warm, the Edgewater Elementary School cafeteria was uncomfortably stuffy. Doors were opened to allow cooler air inside, providing some relief for dozens of parents, students and staff who assembled last week to hear a preliminary report on air quality at the school. Moments later, it was the report's findings that seemed to make many people uncomfortable. Parents said despite the fact that an independent consulting firm plans to take steps to control the mold growth it discovered in the school, they are still concerned about health issues for students.

A consulting firm hired by Anne Arundel County schools to test air quality at Edgewater Elementary School will meet with the school community on Tuesday. Ed Light, president of Ashton-based Building Dynamics LLC, said Friday that the company is conducting comprehensive evaluations and reviewing parents' and staff concerns. He said Building Dynamics will meet with the Edgewater community at 7 p.m. Tuesday and that a report would be issued when the firm's study is complete. Two weeks ago, a group of Edgewater parents, teachers, staff and students gathered at a school board public hearing and implored Anne Arundel school officials to prioritize improvements to the school's aging structure, which they say is fraught with health concerns.

The state urged residents of the Baltimore region to take precautions today because air quality is expected to approach unhealthful levels.The air quality yesterday was moderate, with an index reading at 4 p.m. of 71 for ground-level ozone. The air is declared "Code Orange," or approaching unhealthful levels, when the ozone readings are 89-99. It is "Code Red," or harmful, when the index reaches 100 or above.This summer, the index has registered over 100 on July 8, July 6 and June 22, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.

In the wake of complaints at Columbia's Jeffers Hill Elementary School, Howard County PTA officials have called on all county schools to form parent committees to deal with air quality issues."

I couldn't agree more with Rena Steinzor's commentary on air pollution ("Breathing uneasily," Sept. 8). President Obama's decision to reject his own Environmental Protection Agency's recommendation to strengthen air quality standards for ozone is a bad decision for anyone with lung and/orheart disease. Major ground-level ozone sources are motor vehicles, fossil fuel-driven power plants and other industrial sites. If President Obama is not responding to the public health needs of the millions of heart and lung disease sufferers who are affected by ozone pollution, it must be because he is only listening to the cries of the corporate CEOs of the above industries.

BET has a mixed history when it comes to news, documentaries and public affairs - and much of it is for the worse. With a former programming emphasis on music videos and a record of little or no serious commitment to news, questions have regularly been raised whether Black Entertainment Television was serving its audience or exploiting it. The paucity of serious news and first-rate public affairs programs was impossible not to notice. The National Association of Black Journalists gave BET its "Thumbs Down Award" in 2007.