New Plan and Request Highlight Improving Air Quality After years of coordinated actions by local, state, and federal officials, the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia are formally asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to redesignate this region as meeting its fine particle standards. In 2005, EPA said the metropolitan Washington region was not meeting its fine particle (PM 2.5) pollution standards. The Maryland Department of the Environment, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, and the D.C. Department of Environment are holding public hearings on the region’s new draft fine particle plan and redesignation request. District of Columbia Public Hearing Date: February 20, 2013, 5:30 pm, DDOE (1st Street, 5th floor, Room 555), DC Maryland Public Hearing Date: February 19, 2013, 10 am, MNCPPC, Silver Spring, MD Virginia Public Hearing Date: February 25, 2013, 7 pm, Fairfax County Government Center, VA The public can also read the plan and redesignation request, and submit comments here. For more information on how the region reduced fine particle pollution, read a Region Forward blog post.   ----------- Release Date: Feb 19, 2013