Environment improves with fewer cars, quarantined people but some fear future

By Jeannetyler Moodee Lockman
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

With fewer cars on streets and more people staying home to avoid infections from the coronavirus, the environment has shown some improvements, but local officials worry about efforts to loosen environmental regulations.

Two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a temporary enforcement discretion policy, which gives environmental facilities leniency when it comes to the enforcement of their legal obligations. Officials explained that facilities like water treatment plants would be allowed to focus less on monitoring water chemistry and more on ensuring the cleanliness and safety of our drinking water.

“This temporary policy is designed to provide enforcement discretion under the current, extraordinary conditions, while ensuring facility operations continue to protect human health and the environment,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in a press release.

The EPA stressed that the new policies should not be an excuse for intentional criminal violations. Under the temporary policies, officials said facilities are required to keep documentation of any abnormal decisions they make resulting from the ongoing pandemic.

Many concerned Marylanders have voiced concerns about the impact the lax environmental regulations could have on public health in the state, said Kristin Reilly, director of The Choose Clean Water Coalition. 

“We understand we may need to exercise discretion in enforcement of environmental regulations… but Maryland is not issuing a broad upfront policy as EPA is doing,” said Ben Grumbles, secretary of The Maryland Department of the Environment, in a statement shared with The Baltimore Watchdog.

Maryland will continue to operate under the original regulations while being wary of the unique circumstances, Grumbles said, explaining Maryland remains “fully committed to requiring compliance and we will continue to use enforcement as needed.”

Reduced carbon emissions have been one silver lining to the various orders issued by Gov. Larry Hogan and other local, state and national officials. Environmentalists estimate carbon emissions have been rising by an average of around 1 percent a year. But now bustling cities like New York City report traffic levels are down 37 percent from this time last year.

Global carbon emissions have plummeted because of reduced air flights, decreased bus and train services, and other stalled transportation services, according to TomTom. And in Maryland and other states, emission declines have been attributed to behavioral changes such as walking to work, increased teleconferencing over travel, curfews and stay-at-home orders. In Philadelphia and other cities, officials have closed streets to vehicles to allow more space for pedestrians to keep 6 feet apart from each other.

Even with the special efforts, some things remain outside of human control.

“I would say, right now, the air quality is about the same as it typically would be this time of year” in the Washington, D.C. area, Daniel Goldberg, a research scientist with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, told WTOP recently.

Goldberg explained that the weather has a large role in air quality. Wetter-than-normal conditions would yield cleaner-than-normal air quality, he told the news show.