A recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lends support to the Chesapeake Chapter’s work to close the C.P. Crane coal-fired power plant near Baltimore. That study found that 130 out of every 100,000 Baltimore residents likely die prematurely each year of causes related to air pollution, more than any other city in the United States. The Crane plant’s air permit will be up for renewal on November 30, 2013, and the Chapter will be ramping up its efforts to pressure the state to strengthen the plant's permit conditions. One concern is that the Crane plant is among the worst emitters of sulfur dioxide in the eastern United States.
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On July 22, 2013, Dr. Yousef Zarbalian, MD held a training at the University of Maryland, Baltimore for health care professionals on the implications for human health resulting from the extraction of natural gas through hydraulic facturing, or fracking. The training examined the epidemiological evidence of potential health effects related to natural gas development. This training comes as Maryland Department of the Environment has proposed best management practices for fracking in Western Maryland.
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The NRC has derailed plans for the construction of a new reactor in Maryland citing a provision that prohibits foreign-ownership of U.S. nuclear reactors. PSR members in the Baltimore-based Chesapeake chapter worked to prevent this reactor from being built, citing safety concerns over highly radioactive waste, uranium mining and potential accidents.
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Chesapeake PSR recently hosted a Climate Change, Health and You training. Dr. Cindy Parker identified the sources of greenhouse gases, discussed the implications for human health, and showed how health professionals and health advocates can help change policies to slow and stop climate change.
View pictures from the training »Toxics and global warming create pervasive threats to health. PSR responds via chemical policy reform, climate policy advocacy, practitioner education, and “Code Black,” a campaign to reduce pollution and global warming.
More on Environment and Health »The nuclear weapons danger is real and growing: nuclear terrorism, proliferation, and thousands of weapons still on hair-trigger alert in the United States and Russia. Fortunately, there also are new opportunities to eliminate this threat.
More on Nuclear Weapons »Coal-fired power plants are the leading global warming culprit in the U.S., accounting for more than 30 percent of our nation's carbon dioxide emissions. They also are one of the nation's largest sources of air pollutants that damage cardiovascular and respiratory health and threaten healthy child development.
More on Code Black: Coal’s Assault on America’s Health Campaign »Physicians, health professionals, and environmental health experts share their ideas, inspiration, and analysis about toxic chemicals and environmental health policy.
More on Environmental Health Policy Institute »With each passing month, scientific evidence continues to mount that the earth’s climate is rapidly changing.
More on Climate Change »Baltimore has a higher rate of premature deaths from air pollution than any other city in the country
Chesapeake Chapter has submitted comments to the state on the draft Best Management Practices for hydraulic fracturing. We were highly critical of the state’s decision to establish best practices before conducting studies of hydraulic fracturing’s possible impacts on Marylanders’ health and of the proposed imposition of a "medical gag rule" in Maryland.
Chesapeake Chapter has co-signed a letter to Governor O'Malley asking the state to take greater protections to address air quality problems caused by coal-fired power plants in the Baltimore area.
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Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit
The Toolkit is a combination of easy-to-use reference guides for health providers and user-friendly health education materials on preventing exposures to toxic chemicals and other substances that affect infant and child health. Read more »
Chesapeake Bay Area PSR's Drs. Cindy Parker and Gwen DuBois provided testimony on the health benefits a proposed offshore wind bill compared to fossil fuels and nuclear power. Read more »