Air Quality Conformity Boundaries
This is a Land Use / Land Cover Map depicting
forests, cropland, park land, waters features
and urban and countryside development in
more than 3000 square miles of the
Metropolitan Washington Region as defined
COG membership of the Metropolitan
Washington Council of Governments (COG)
This map was developed through Land Sat
imagery analzyed by RESAC (Regional Earth Science Applications Center)
in conjunction with the COG Department of Environmental
Programs and the National Park Service.
Analysis for this maps covers the 12 major land
use / land cover classifications as defined by
the Chesapeake Bay Program. The nature of
Land Sat imagery is such that detailed visual
images are not possible as they are when
using high resolution satellite imagery or
low-level aerial photography. However, t he 30
meters per pixel resolution of Land Sat
imagery is very useful for high altitude land
cover analysis using spectral analysis
techniques.
Sophisticated digital analysis software has
been used to calculate the land cover data for
this map and has been 'trained' on higher
resolution data to achieve accurate analysis to
the 90th percentile.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines the geographic boundaries of areas that do not meet federal standards for air quality. These are called “non-attainment areas." The Washington-DC-MD-VA non-attainment area includes the TPB Planning Area (except for a very small portion of Fauquier County, Virginia) plus Calvert County, Maryland. Calvert County is part of the Calvert-St. Mary’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (C-SMMPO). The TPB and C-SMMPO have a formal agreement wherein the TPB includes Calvert County in its air quality conformity analysis.
The Washington DC-MD-VA non-attainment area (shown below) is currently designated as “marginal” non-attainment for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards. It is this area that is the focus of air quality plans developed for the region.