(ANNAPOLIS, MD)—Jon Mueller, Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Vice President for Litigation, issued this statement following EPA's announcement that it plans to deny a petition to force 19 out-of-state power plants to reduce pollution harming Marylanders and the Chesapeake Bay. In October of 2017, CBF and its partners joined the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to sue EPA to enforce the Clean Air Act and require these plants to reduce their pollution.
If the 19 plants used their pollution controls effectively through the summer they would send about 39,000 fewer tons of NOx to Maryland each summer, according to MDE.
"These power plants have the technology in place to significantly reduce pollution damaging the health of Maryland residents and local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay. The technology is just not being used.
"The Chesapeake Bay Foundation contends this is a serious violation of the Clean Air Act and will continue to fight to ensure that the law is enforced to reduce this significant source of pollution. Air pollution delivers roughly one third of the nitrogen pollution damaging local waterways."
