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TextFairfax County's Ozone Action Day Program Honored
Office of Public Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
703-324-3187, TTY 703-324-2935, FAX 703-324-2010
Nov. 4, 2003
Fairfax County's Ozone Action Day Program Honored
Today, Tuesday, Nov. 4, at the University Conference Center and Inn at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus, Fairfax County was given an honorable mention by Clean Air Partners in the category of “Outstanding Ozone Action Days Program.” The county was recognized for its efforts in establishing voluntary actions to reduce ground-level ozone through an Ozone Action Days plan, its efforts to encourage and facilitate public awareness of air quality issues, and its efforts to encourage employees to take personal voluntary actions.
Clean Air Partners (originally known as ENDZONE Partners) is a volunteer nonprofit organization that was created and chartered in 1997 by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. The partnership represents a coalition of public and private sector groups including businesses and environmental, civic and professional organizations, governments and citizens committed to improving air quality in the Washington and Baltimore regions. The partnership’s primary focus is the promotion of easy and effective voluntary actions that individuals, groups, businesses and government can take to reduce air pollution.
Fairfax County government has been a member of Clean Air Partners since 1998, and has been proactive in efforts to inform county employees and residents about air quality programs and ways to reduce air pollution. The county has a notification program that involves the posting of Ozone Action Day forecasts on Fairfax County Government Cable Television Channel 16, and the county Web site, as well as sending e-mail notifications to county employees. These messages include appropriate actions to take to reduce contributions to ozone formation.
Some actions currently practiced by Fairfax County government when a Ozone Action Day is forecast include the refueling of vehicles after sunset; the restriction of non-essential motorized operating equipment; encouraging employees to telework and teleconference to participate in meetings off site; and the offering of free trips on the Fairfax Connector and on Metrobus, in cooperation with other local jurisdictions in the region. Also, in an effort to reduce ozone-producing emissions, the county uses ultra low sulfur diesel fuel in its Fairfax Connector buses throughout the year.
For more information on the award or the county’s
Ozone Action Day Program, contact Kambiz Agazi, Fairfax County’s
environmental coordinator, at 703-324-1788, TTY 711.
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