Baltimore City Council
File #: 15-0215R    Version: 0 Name: Request for State Action - Reduce Nitrogen Oxide Emissions
Type: City Council Resolution Status: Adopted
File created: 3/23/2015 In control: City Council
On agenda: Final action: 3/23/2015
Enactment #:
Title: Request for State Action - Reduce Nitrogen Oxide Emissions FOR the purpose of supporting the enactment of the Healthy Air for All Act (H.B. 1042/S.B. 892), or similar regulations from the Department of the Environment, to protect the health and well-being of all Marylanders by reducing dangerous nitrogen oxide emissions from coal fired power plants.
Sponsors: Robert Curran, Sharon Green Middleton, Eric T. Costello, Brandon M. Scott, James B. Kraft, Carl Stokes, Bill Henry, Mary Pat Clarke, President Young, Nick Mosby, Helen L. Holton, William "Pete" Welch, Rochelle Spector, Edward Reisinger
Indexes: Reduce Nitrogen Oxide Emissions, State Action
Attachments: 1. 15-0215R~1st Reader
* 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
Request for State Action - Reduce Nitrogen Oxide Emissions
FOR the purpose of supporting the enactment of the Healthy Air for All Act (H.B. 1042/S.B. 892), or similar regulations from the Department of the Environment, to protect the health and well-being of all Marylanders by reducing dangerous nitrogen oxide emissions from coal fired power plants.
body

Recitals

Baltimore City and its surrounding counties have received the EPA?s worst smog pollution designation of any area east of the Mississippi River, reflecting the highest smog levels in the East. This failure is of more than merely academic interest, it has profoundly negative effects on our health. Exposure to elevated levels of ozone can cause premature death and a wide range of harmful adverse respiratory and cardiovascular effects, as well as significantly increasing the risk of preterm birth. Children, the elderly, and other sensitive populations are especially at risk.

Smog is also a potent asthma trigger, especially a concern here where over 64,000 Baltimore adults have asthma. Worse, 20% of Baltimore City children under 18 have asthma ? double the national average. As a result, Baltimore?s pediatric asthma hospitalization rate is the highest in Maryland, and one of the highest in the nation, causing Baltimore residents to spend over $33 million per year in emer...

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