Baltimore – Maryland
power plants are emitting unsafe levels of fine particles, and the state’s system
for regulating emissions is inadequate, according to a new report by Environment
Maryland Research & Policy
Center.
The report, Particulate
Matter Pollution from Maryland Power Plants, documents health problems
associated with breathing excessive levels of microscopic particles, including heart
attacks, cancer and breathing disorders. It traces much of the pollution to Maryland’s
dirtiest power plants.
The Maryland Department of the Environment recently issued a
consent decree to Constellation Energy to settle an enforcement action for violations
of pollution standards at its Maryland
power plants. That settlement included many of the same recommendations that
are in the report released today. A similar settlement for power plants owned
by Mirant Corporation is forthcoming.
“The state is finally cracking down on a problem that has
been allowed to go on unchecked for years and years,” said Brad Heavner, state
director of Environment Maryland
Research & Policy Center.
“This type of pollution kills people, and we don’t even know how much of it is
coming from those plants.”
Power plants are required to measure and report levels of
opacity – how dark the smoke is. This is related to levels of particulate
matter, but is an inexact measurement. The levels of opacity from the dirtiest
power plants indicate that particulate emissions are a major problem, but it is
impossible to say how big the problem is.
The report recommends that plants measure their particulate
emissions directly and that the state hold plants to their permitted emission
levels.
“The Constellation consent decree shows that this can
be done for one of the dirtiest sources in the state, the Brandon Shores power plant,” added Heavner. “Now it’s time to make
this the official policy for all sources of particulate pollution in Maryland, including power plants, incinerators, and other
industrial facilities.”
Maryland-PM-Pollution.pdf