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COG is the one place in metropolitan Washington that regularly brings leaders together to develop solutions to the region's major challenges. COG prepares plans enabling the region to receive federal funding, provides members with research and data to inform decision-making, and offers a wide range of programs, including commuter services, cooperative purchasing, technical assistance and grants, and public outreach campaigns.

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Through the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB), area officials, planners, and engineers ensure a well-managed and maintained transportation system. The TPB, which is staffed by COG, conducts the federally mandated transportation planning process for the region and ensures the uninterrupted flow of federal transportation funds that area jurisdictions receive.

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COG's work engages leaders in various environmental fields from water quality experts to climate scientists. Together, they are advancing regional efforts to restore local waterways, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change, promote recycling, and enhance and preserve green space and agriculture.

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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.

Tags: Health, Public Safety, Homeland Security, Bioevent, Report, Planning,

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.

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Air Quality Conformity