Where Does Baltimore Rank In The Number Of Smog Days?

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Promises to roll back clean air rules by the Trump administration could mean more smog.

Alex DeMetrick reports, a new study is setting the base line for just how much more, by adding up bad air days here and across the country.

When it comes to smog, China has some of the heaviest pollution on the planet. Coal fired power plants and cars help turn the air there into a health hazard.

But there's still plenty of smog to go around.

A new study by Environment Maryland has been counting up the days.

In 2015, the Baltimore-Towson area had 89 smog days.

That's better than Philadelphia's 97 and Washington, D.C.'s 99.

Baltimore "ranked 50th in the country for smog pollution and 33rd for soot pollution," says Environment Maryland's Morgan Folger.

Pollution generated not just in Maryland. Much of it blows in across state lines from as far away as the midwest. Trisha Sheehan is with the organization Moms Clean Air Force, which has a goal of healthy air and healthy children.

"This study deeply concerns me, especially in the face of the administration we have today," she says.

Meaning that of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to put "an end to the war on coal."

Easing regulations on a major source of smog, as well as other rollbacks.

"Like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Cars Program," Sheehan says.

A worry because of the risks to children growing up while breathing bad air.

"Ultimately bad air, lung cancer, bad air quality, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma, dminished life quality and heart attacks," according to Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, of the Maryland Environmental Health Network.

Making the study a kind of baseline for what comes next, either more or less smog.

And, in case you're wondering where the smoggiest part of the country is, it's the San Bernardino-Riverside area of California, with 233 days of smog.

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