The Importance Of Smog In Maryland

The state of Maryland is located on the East coast of the country. It is bored by Pennsylvania on the North side, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia on the Southwestern part, Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean on the Eastern part. Its total area is 12,407 square miles with 9,775 square miles for the land and 2,633 square miles for the water side. The US Census Bureau estimated that the total US population in 2014 was 318,857,056 among which, 5,976,407 people lived in Maryland.

One of the biggest environmental issue that this state face is smog. The term smog comes from the combination of the words: smoke and fog. The dictionary defines it as a form of air pollution produced by the reaction of sunlight with hydrocarbons, nitrogen

One of them is burning coal. The encyclopedia defines coal as a solid fossil fuel formed from the remains of land plants that were buried 300-400 years ago and exposed to intense heat and pressure over those millions of years. It is burned in power plants to generate electricity. Data says that 44% of the United States electricity comes from burning coal. The National Mining Association reported that in 2009, 55.4 percent of Maryland’s electricity came from it. It is the dirtiest fossil fuel by nature and when it is burned, it emits greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and other air pollutant which creates smog. The Union of Concerned Scientist said that “Burning coal is also a leading cause of smog, acid rain, and toxic air pollution.” According to the US Energy Information administration, in 2013, Maryland 's Port of Baltimore was the second in the nation to export coal. Maryland energy consumption on coal was estimated at 183.2 trillion

Maryland is considered to be the state with the highest rate of death due to smog pollution. MIT study reported that 113 out of 10 000 people die prematurely in the city of Baltimore because of emissions from cars, trucks, industrial smokestacks, trains, boats and others. The journalist Katie Andries stated: “Of every 100,000 residents in the city, the study found that 130 were likely to die prematurely each year of causes related to air pollution, more than in New York City, Los Angeles, and the entire Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.” The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s study also shown that emissions in Frederick, Reisterstown, and Montgomery Village are worse than in