We all have a stake in keep­ing the air we breathe clean. A person’s health can be directly affected by poor air qual­ity. Ground-level ozone and fine par­tic­u­lates can dam­age res­pi­ra­tory sys­tems and can increase rates of car­dio­vas­cu­lar illness.

The Bal­ti­more Met­ro­pol­i­tan Coun­cil, (BMC) which includes rep­re­sen­ta­tives from local gov­ern­ments, con­ducts regional plan­ning efforts to address air qual­ity. As a mem­ber of the BMC, Howard County is work­ing to improve the air qual­ity in the com­mu­nity. Efforts include the inte­gra­tion of more alter­na­tive fuel vehi­cles and par­tic­i­pa­tion in trans­porta­tion con­for­mity stud­ies designed to reduce emis­sions and lessen the impact of vehi­cles (cars, trucks, buses, trains) on the qual­ity of our air. Howard County’s Trans­porta­tion Divi­sion in the Depart­ment of Plan­ning and Zon­ing coor­di­nates air qual­ity plan­ning efforts with BMC.

The Mary­land Depart­ment of the Envi­ron­ment is respon­si­ble for car­ry­ing out the Fed­eral Clean Air Act and admin­is­ter­ing air pol­lu­tion mon­i­tor­ing, plan­ning and pro­grams to improve air qual­ity. They reg­u­late both mobile sources and sta­tion­ary sources of air pollution.