Air Quality

PARENTS OF STUDENTS at Columbia's Jeffers Hill Elementary School ask a legitimate question: Is the 23-year-old building making their children sick?Students and staff have complained about headaches, fatigue, stomachaches, blurred vision and an inability to concentrate. Parents suspect that the building is responsible for the problems, although the evidence to date is far from conclusive.This creates a dilemma for parents such as Margie Wiedel, who has two children at the school. "I go back and forth between feeling like I'm being an overreactive parent to wondering, 'Am I doing my kids a disservice every day by letting them go in there and come home with headaches?

With temperatures predicted to top 100 degrees today and stay in the high 90s into next week, air-quality forecasters are warning that smog across much of Maryland likely will reach unhealthful levels for children, older adults and anyone with breathing or heart problems. Smog, or ground-level ozone pollution, is expected to hit "Code Orange" levels through Sunday in the Baltimore metropolitan area, according to Clean Air Partners , which publishes air-quality forecasts prepared for the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

The governors of three Chesapeake Bay watershed states are to meet today with officials from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the mayor of Washington to ratify a new agreement to clean up the bay. But three contentious issues remain unresolved. One of them -- the rate at which forests and farms are being converted for development -- "is a potential deal breaker," Mike Morrill, director of communications for Gov. Parris N. Glendening, said yesterday. The governor is "not going to be satisfied" unless there are "specific, measurable goals" for reducing the rate at which farmland is being developed, he said.

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.

INCREASES IN auto air pollution in the Baltimore region since 1990 are disappointing, given state and federal efforts to curb harmful tailpipe emissions. Further action is needed to reduce vehicle pollutants in the region, one of the nation's worst for unhealthy smog. That includes analyzing new road proposals to assure that the traffic generated will meet federal clean air standards.But for road projects under way, with plans, designs and land in hand, there's no reason to apply an ever-changing, ever-tougher set of standards.

WASHINGTON - The governors of Maryland and Virginia met with Washington Mayor Anthony A. Williams yesterday, as part of their continuing effort to foster regional cooperation on issues ranging from the environment to tourism to gang control. After the meeting, Williams, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed an agreement creating the Interstate Air Quality Council, to help bolster the progress in improving air quality in the area. The secretaries of the environment and transportation from the three governments make up the council, and will work to help meet new federal ozone standards and other benchmarks.

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.

The American Lung Association gives Anne Arundel County's air quality an "F," rating it as the 11th worst in the United States. We have the poorest air quality during the hot, humid days of summer. That's why August is a good time to explore this alarming health and environmental crisis. Because automobiles are among the worst contributors to air pollution, we can improve air quality throughout the region by simply adjusting our personal driving and transportation habits. The most prevalent and harmful problem is ground-level ozone, or smog.

Harford County is among the nation's most polluted counties in terms of ozone levels, according to the latest figures from the Environmental Protection Agency. Likewise, Maryland is one of 31 states failing to meet EPA health standards for ground-level ozone. But it is not all bad news. "There has been a dramatic reduction in the amount of what we used to produce," said Randy Mosier, an air quality planner for the Maryland Department of the Environment. In the 1980s, the state averaged 20 days or more of ozone readings above national air quality standards.

The Clean Air Act has improved air quality significantly in the United States over the past three decades, but the National Academy of Sciences said yesterday that far more effort is needed to cut air pollution in the future. In a long-awaited report requested by Congress more than two years ago, the academy's panel of scientists say the landmark legislation has been crucial in reducing such pollutants as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and lead - particularly in the face of a growing population and increasing energy consumption.