AIR POLLUTION 

At  nearly 17 million, there are more people in the Chesapeake Bay watershed today than ever before. By 2010, an additional three million people are projected to move into the region, bringing with them more vehicles and more demands for energy from power plants. And as a result, more air and nitrogen pollution will damage the Bay.

Each year, roughly 97.5 million pounds of nitrogen pollution—about one-third of the Bay's total yearly load—comes from air deposition. Most of this is from power plant smokestacks and vehicle tailpipes. The Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region has the nation's second worst traffic and ozone problems.

Nitrogen from vehicle exhaust washes into the Bay and contributes to algae blooms. These blooms cloud the water and absorb the oxygen, creating dead zones in the Bay that cannot support underwater grasses, crabs, fish, and other marine life. Other byproducts of haphazard sprawl—roads, parking lots, and other paved surfaces—make erosion and sediment pollution worse in the Bay.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), nitrogen pollution from coal-burning power plants and vehicle tailpipes is far cheaper to control before it is released into the air. Experts estimate the cost differential at about $2 to $3 per pound, versus $150 per pound for controlling nitrogen pollution at the smokestack or tailpipe. It could be cheaper still to control pollution by changing our patterns of land use to reduce our need to drive everywhere.

Air pollution, primarily from power plants, is also the main source of the mercury that contaminates fish in the Bay watershed. As a result, anglers are warned to limit their consumption of certain fish species due to potentially harmful levels of this toxic chemical. EPA recently proposed regulations to limit air pollution from the nation’s coal-fired power plants. But by all accounts, the actions were "too little, too late."

Proposed reductions in nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions would fail to solve the air quality problems in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region. Proposed mercury pollution reductions would fall short of what is needed to reduce fish consumption advisories in the Bay watershed, and would allow a "cap and trade," which is illegal under the Clean Air Act. In response, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has been encouraging Bay states to adopt regulations more stringent than those proposed by EPA.

CBF helped pass the "Healthy Air Act" in Maryland, requiring significant reduction of nitrogen oxides and mercury, as well as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants. In addition, CBF joined other environmental groups and several states in a judicial challenge to EPA regulations dealing with mercury pollution. In a 2008 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that EPA had indeed violated the Clean Air Act by failing to prescribe stringent reductions in mercury pollution.

Unhealthy air doesn't have to be part of life in the Bay. Alternative and renewable energy sources and low-emission vehicles should be part of our national strategy to reduce pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes. Smart land use planning and innovative means of transportation are also key pieces of the pollution puzzle. Nutrient trading is another option. Every Bay-loving citizen and stakeholder should demand that state and federal leaders act to enforce air quality standards and promote innovative ways to reduce pollution from airborne sources.