1 Statement of the Air and Radiation Management Administration

Maryland Department of the Environment For the Public Hearing Concerning the Baltimore Nonattainment Area 8 - Hour Ozone State Implementation Plan and Base Year Inventory Held on May 22, 2007 Go od evening. My name is James Wilkinson. I am a Planner in the Air Quality Planning Division, Air Quality Planning Program of the Air & Radiation Management Administration, Mary land Department of Environment. This public hearing is related to the air qu ality plan titled the Baltimore Nonattainment Area 8
- Hour Ozone State I mplementation Plan and Base Year Inventory . This public hearing is being held pursuant to federal law found at 42 U. S. C. § 7410(a) and 40 CFR Parts 51.102 and 251. I t is also being h eld in conformance with the State Administrative Procedure Act, under the State Government Article, beginning at Section 10
- 101. Notice of this public hearing appeared in the:

· Baltimore Sun on April 23 , 2007 · The Examiner Newspaper on April 21, 2007 · Maryl and Department of the Environment website starting on March 15, 2007 Copies of these notices will be submitted with the formal SIP submission package to the USEPA. Access to the proposed document was made available via the website of the Maryland Departm ent of the Environment. Hard copies were also available at the Maryland Department of the Environment. The purpose of this hearing is to provide the public with an opportunity to formally comment on the proposed document. Summary of Proposed State Imple mentation Plan High levels of ozone are a health problem. When it is breathed into the lungs, ozone reacts with lung tissue. I t can harm breathing passages, decrease the lungs’ working ability and cause coughing and chest pains; ey e and throat irritat ion; breathing difficulties even for healthy individuals, but especially for those with respiratory problems such as allergies, asthma, bronchitis and emphy sema; and greater susceptibility to respiratory infection. In 1997 EPA issued a revised ozone heal th standard based on an 8
- hour measurement to protect against longer exposure periods. Since the late 1980’s more than 3,000 published health studies indicated that health effects occur at levels lower than the previous standard and that exposure times lon ger than one hour are of concern.2

EPA designated the Baltimore region as a moderate nonattainment area for the 8
- hour ozone standard in April 2004. The region has a deadline of June 15, 2010, to meet the 8
- hour ozone standard. The geographic scope of th e region includes the following Maryland counties and jurisdictions: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City , Carroll, Harford, and Howard. This document, the Baltimore Nonattainment Area 8
- Hour Ozone State I mplementation Plan and Base Year Inventory , is a plan to improve air quality in the Baltimore nonattainment area to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for the 8
- hour ozone standard. The Plan consists of a Reasonable Further Progress Plan; an attainment plan; an analy sis of reasonab ly available control measures; an attainment demonstration; contingency plans, and mobile emissions budgets. The plan also presents a Base
- Year Emissions Inventory for 2002 and projected emissions inventories used to predict attainment. Based upon all of the components prepared for this SI P document including the significant technical analy sis and air quality modeling performed for the region there is a dramatic weight of evidence available that shows the region will meet the 8
- hour ozone standard during the 2009 ozone season. CONSIDERATION OF COMMENTS The Department will consider all pertinent comments, and revise the proposed plan if necessary , before making a final decision to adopt the plan and submit it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval as a Maryland State Implementation Plan (SI P)
. Written comments may be presented at this hearing or mailed to Brian Hug, MDE ARMA, 1800 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore MD 21230 postmarked no later than May 22, 2007.