38.4 million tons of cargo handled in 2017; the most since 1979 and the third-highest tonnage in its history.
With such a busy port environmental factors have to be considered. The Maryland Department of Transportation, Maryland Port Administration has made significant environmental progress to reduce emissions at the port’s public marine terminals in the last several years, including upgrades of older equipment to newer and more efficient tools.
The 2018 GreenPort Congress Conference America will welcome representatives from the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore across multiple sessions to discuss how the port has successfully balanced moving the state’s economy forward while protecting the environment and public health.
One such session, ‘Measuring air emissions’, moderated by Maryland Department of Environment’s George Aburn, Director of Air & Radiation Administration, will discuss and provide innovative tools to measure emissions related to port activities, helping to monitor and record the ports total emissions and its reduction. The session will also cover the impact of emissions on the surrounding environment and local citizens.
Aburn is currently responsible for the implementation and management of the state’s air pollution and radiation protection programs, including air quality planning and monitoring, developing regulations, air permitting, radioactive materials licensing, radiation machine registration and certification, and inspection/enforcement programs.
During session 5 of the conference, David Thomas, Deputy Executive Director, Maryland Port Administration, will discuss collaborations between ports and shipping, examining what ship operators are doing to embrace sustainability, meet regulations and prepare for the future.
Other key state officials include; R. Earl Lewis, Deputy Secretary for Policy, Planning & Enterprise Services at the Maryland Department of Transportation who will conduct the opening remarks, Boyd K. Rutherford, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, who will provide the welcome address on behalf of the State of Maryland, Ben H. Grumbles, Secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment, who will speak on the State of Maryland’s progress as a leader developing partnerships and improvements in environmental performance and Pete K. Rahn, Secretary of Maryland Department of Transportation, who will join the conference on May 17, covering how Maryland is creating an effective balance of environmental initiatives and commerce.
The 2018 theme is Green Ports are Smart Ports, highlighting the need to make ports greener and work smarter to achieve emission decline.
For further information and to register for the conference visit: www.greenport.com/congressamerica.