Increased population and job growth could ruin the region’s recent downward trend in the number of high-ozone days.
“Even with technology to help us, Americans love their cars, and we do see the [the number of] ozone days going back up,” said Regina Aris, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s policy manager.
Since 1980, the Baltimore metropolitan region has seen the number of days when ozone levels are dangerously high drop from 70 days a year to 20 because of cleaner vehicle emissions and improved transit options. However, the federal Environmental Protection Agency designates the region as not meeting federal standards on ozone levels.
With every county in the Baltimore region expecting population and job growth in the next 25 years, the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board addressed ozone levels in its recent outlook plan into the year 2035.