Statement of the Air and Radiation Management Administration 

Maryland Department of the Environment 

For the Public Hearing Concerning the 

Cecil County Maryland 8-hour Ozone State Implementation Plan and Base Year Inventory 

Held on May 24, 2007 

Good evening. My name is Brian Hug. I am Deputy Program Manager of the Air Quality Planning 

Program ofthe Air & Radiation Management Administration, Maryland Department of Environment. 

This public hearing is related to the air quality plan titled the Cecil County Maryland 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: 

• Cecil Whig on April 24, 2007 

• The Baltimore Sun on April 23, 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 USEP A 

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 EP A 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 

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are of concern. 

EPA designated Cecil County, Maryland as a moderate nonattainment area for the 8-hour ozone standard 

in April 2004. The county has a deadline of June 15,2010, to meet the 8-hour ozone standard. The 

geographic scope of the area is Cecil County, Maryland. Cecil County is part of the Philadelphia 

Nonattainment Area specifically titled the Philadelphia - Wilmington - Atlantic City, P A - DE - MD - NJ 

ozone nonattainment region, which has been designated nonattainment under the 8-Hour Ozone standard 

by EPA. 

This document, the Cecil County Maryland 8-hour Ozone State Implementation Plan and Base Year 

Inventory, is a plan to improve air quality in the Cecil County 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 that Cecil County 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 24, 2007. 

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