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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

Good 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, Maryland Department of 

Environment. 

This public hearing is related to the air quality plan titled the Baltimore Nonattainment Area 8-Hour Ozone 

State Implementation 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. It is also being held 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

· Maryland 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 Department 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 Implementation Plan 

High levels of ozone are a health problem. When it is breathed into the lungs, ozone reacts with lung 

tissue. It can harm breathing passages, decrease the lungs’ working ability and cause coughing and chest 

pains; eye and throat irritation; breathing difficulties even for healthy individuals, but especially for those 

with respiratory problems such as allergies, asthma, bronchitis and emphysema; and greater susceptibility

to respiratory infection. 

In 1997 EPA issued a revised ozone health 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 longer than one hour 

are of concern. 
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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 the 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 Implementation 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 analysis of reasonably 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 SIP document including the significant technical 

analysis 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 (SIP). 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.