* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Kraft
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
Healthy Air for Maryland - In Support of the Healthy Air Act of 2006
FOR the purpose of encouraging the Maryland General Assembly, during the 2006 Legislative Session, to adopt meaningful Healthy Air Act legislation to reduce power plant pollution, with significant reduction in carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury.
Body
Recitals
According to recent reports, pollution from under-controlled coal-fired power plants causes approximately 670 premature deaths, 17,325 asthma attacks, and 101,977 lost workdays in Maryland each year. Approximately 1.1 million Maryland children live within 30 miles of a power plant, the area in which the greatest health impacts are felt. Power plants are responsible for 41 percent of total mercury emissions from all known sources. Each year in our nation, over 600,000 infants are born with an overexposure to mercury, which has been found to be especially harmful to the brain development of children in utero.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has imposed mercury related fish advisories on 183 miles of rivers within the State. In many of these cases, the human consumption of fish has been prohibited because of extreme levels of mercury contamination. Soot, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions have been linked to cancer, heart disease, lung disease, ozone pollution, regional haze, acid rain, and "dead zones" in the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, carbon dioxide from power plants has led to, and will continue to lead, to rising sea levels and increased severe weather, putting not only Maryland's coastal and bay cities at risk, but also those of our neighboring states.
The United States EPA, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, has reversed its earlier determination that mercury is an air toxin requiring the strictest controls. Thirteen states' attorney generals and several citizens groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have filed lawsuits challenging the EPA's fatally weak Mercury Rule.
The EPA has also proposed new rules governing fine particulate matter, known as soot. The most dangerous of these are microscopic specks that can cause significant inflammation and arterial damage in the bloodstream and the lungs. According to EPA estimates, particle pollution kills about 20,000 people every year and hospitalizes many more. Despite considerable research over the last few years that has expanded the list of adverse health effects associated with fine particles especially among children and pointed to the need for stronger standards, the EPA's proposed rules represent only a slight adjustment of previous rules.
More can be done. In order to protect the future of not only the citizens of the State of Maryland, but also its environment, we need to pass legislation now. Everyday we wait, pollution poses more of a risk to us and our children than the day before. The sooner we act, the sooner relief will come, and the sooner the future generations of Maryland will be safe from these invisible toxins that threaten our health and well being on a daily basis.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body encourages the Maryland General Assembly, during the 2006 Legislative Session, to adopt meaningful Healthy Air Act legislation to reduce power plant pollution, with significant reduction in carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, Members of the Maryland General Assembly, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the Council.
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