http://www.environmentmaryland.org/reports/clean-air/clean-air-program-reports http://www.environmentmaryland.org/reports/clean-air/clean-air-program-reports/particulate-matter-pollution-from-maryland-power-plants Particulate matter from power plants is a serious health threat. Better monitoring of particulate matter emissions from coal-fired power plants in Maryland and proper enforcement of emission standards would help to reduce health-damaging pollution.Power plants release particulate matter, or soot—tiny particles that are too small to see and that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, where they cause health problems.Particulate matter can suppress immune function, cause cancer and worsen cardiovascular disease and impair children’s lung development.Very fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, has the greatest health impacts.Particulate matter pollution from coal-fired power plants in Maryland causes an estimated 560 premature deaths, 21,000 asthma attacks and 350 pediatric emergency room admissions each year.Coal-fired power plants release more particulate matter pollution than do other fossil-fuel plants, and a large portion of that pollution is PM2.5.Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are pollutants that can react to form particulate matter. Coal-fired power plants emitted 93% of NOx and 99% of SO2 released from electricity generation in Maryland in 2004.Approximately 21 to 44% of the particulate matter pollution released from coal-fired power plants is PM2.5.Particulate matter pollution is dangerously high in 11 of Maryland’s 23 counties, including six that are home to the state’s major coal-fired power plants.Despite the health risks of particulate matter, power plants in Maryland currently do not measure their particulate matter emissions. Instead of tracking emissions and requiring power plants to meet the state’s standards for particulate matter, power plants are required to monitor for “opacity” of their emissions.Maryland’s standard for opacity does not guarantee that the state’s standard for particulate matter pollution will be met. The opacity standard allows emissions to spike once an hour, allowing power plants to emit more particulate matter than they should be allowed to emit under state regulations.Opacity is a poor measure of particulate matter pollution. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that specific particulate matter levels cannot be determined from a given level of opacity.An additional problem with particulate matter pollution in Maryland is that many coal-fired power plants have not been complying with the already inadequate opacity standard. For example, data from Brandon Shores show that there were at least 62 events from January 2005 through December 2006 in which the plant exceeded opacity limits.To protect public health from particulate matter pollution, Maryland should require all coal-fired power plants to measure the particulate matter coming out of smokestacks, thus making it possible for the state to fully enforce its standards for particulate matter, rather than relying on the inadequate and inaccurate opacity standards. Doing so would enable the state to ensure that unsafe levels of particulate pollution are not permitted to harm public health. http://www.environmentmaryland.org/reports/clean-air/clean-air-program-reports/particulate-matter-pollution-from-maryland-power-plants Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:54:21 -0600 http://www.environmentmaryland.org/reports/clean-air/clean-air-program-reports/cars-and-cancer-toxic-pollution-from-cars-and-trucks-in-maryland The concentrations of toxic chemicals in Maryland’s air pose a serious health threat. These hazardous substances, known as air toxics, come mostly from cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles. Marylanders exposed to air toxics can suffer from a variety of illnesses, including cancer, birth defects, neurological damage, and respiratory problems such as asthma. While scores of harmful air toxics exist, a few of the chemicals, including acetaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, and benzene, are responsible for most of the health risk. According to data from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), residents of every Maryland county faced an excessive risk of cancer—greater than one case for every million residents— from exposure to air toxics in 1999 (the most recent year for which data is available). Cars and trucks were leading contributors to those excessive risks. • Marylanders were exposed to levels of benzene an average of 11.3 times higher than EPA’s standard for the health risk from cancer. Residents of every county in Maryland were exposed to benzene levels above EPA’s cancer risk threshold, with residents of Baltimore City exposed to benzene levels more than 20 times the cancer risk threshold. • Average exposure to levels of 1,3- butadiene was 4.1 times as large as EPA’s guideline in Maryland. Exposure exceeded the cancer risk threshold in more than half of Maryland’s counties. • Marylanders’ exposure to acetaldehyde averaged 3.4 times the cancer risk threshold. Airborne acetaldehyde exceeded the guideline in every Maryland county. • All air toxics combined were present at levels averaging 40 times the health-protective threshold across Maryland. The factor by which exposure exceeded the cancer risk threshold ranged between 11.3 and 62.1 throughout the state’s counties. This data does not include the serious non-cancer health effects associated with the pollutants and understates their full health impacts as a result. Cars, trucks, and other mobile sources were responsible for: • 84 percent of Maryland’s benzene emissions.• 99 percent of Maryland’s 1,3-butadiene emissions.• 87 percent of Maryland’s acetaldehyde emissions. Maryland can reduce citizens’ exposure to air toxics and the accompanying health risks from mobile sources by adopting air pollution standards that are more protective of public health. As a strong first step, the Maryland Department of the Environment should immediately adopt the Clean Cars Program to reduce toxic emissions from cars and trucks. A 2005 Maryland PIRG Foundation study found that the Clean Cars Program would reduce emissions of air toxics from light-duty vehicles by approximately 12 to 15 percent within 20 years compared with projected emission levels, under weaker federal air pollution standards. On a pollutant by pollutant level, the Clean Cars Program reduces air toxics emissions by 57 to 79 percent versus today’s pollution levels. Those emission reductions would be the equivalent of taking approximately 190,000 of today’s cars off the state’s roads. http://www.environmentmaryland.org/reports/clean-air/clean-air-program-reports/cars-and-cancer-toxic-pollution-from-cars-and-trucks-in-maryland Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:54:21 -0600