Study documents toll of coal dust on South Baltimore’s Curtis Bay

Curtis Bay is covered in coal dust, and residents want the state to revoke not renew the permit for the company responsible for the pollution.

“I went to high school here. Every day I went to that school, we were breathing in coal dust. We were doing it every day as kids,” Shashawna Campbell said Thursday night at the South Baltimore neighborhood’s recreation center, where researchers presented a study of pollution in the community by rail company CSX.

“Why are we talking about the renewal of a permit? We should be talking about a transition,” Campbell said.

Christopher Heaney, an environmental health professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and other scientists repeated Thursday night that no level of pollutant particles 2.5 microns in diameter or less is safe for respiratory and cardiovascular health. The study, done in collaboration with the University of Maryland, the state and several community groups in Curtis Bay and nearby Mount Winans, gathered data between 700 feet and three-quarters of a mile away from the CSX terminal from October 2022 through last May and consistently found dangerous levels of coal dust pollution.

“We actually found evidence of those small coal dust particles that are particular health concerns because they can be inhaled into the lungs, along with larger particles as well, we found them throughout the community,” Heaney said. “We found that coal dust and its signature is making its way into the community on a day-to-day basis.”

Heaney said researchers used cameras to match minute-to-minute air quality with train activity at the coal facility and found levels spiked when trains were entering or exiting the facility.

Chris Hoagland, director of the state’s air and radiation administration, explained that CSX has applied to the Maryland Department of the Environment for its next five-year air quality permit to operate the facility, and the agency plans to use the new data to inform its requirements.

“We can’t say you have to do this type of commerce. What we say is if you’re doing that type of commerce in this place, these are all the steps you need to take to reduce pollution. That’s what we can do with this permit,” Hoagland said. “We have authority over the coal terminal, that’s why we’re talking about this and that’s why we’re talking about strengthening the permit.”

With air monitors, the researchers detected dangerous levels of coal dust leaving the terminal’s fence line, on average, about once every hour and a half. On average, high-intensity coal dust events lasted about six consecutive minutes, and the longest event was 137 minutes, according to the study.

The study indicated that coal particles were present at all eight sampling sites in the residential community, which already is “overburdened” by air pollution from several sources.

The smaller particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream. But both those particles and their larger counterparts, which are 10 microns or less, have been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Residents who have long been watching black dust accumulate on homes’ windowpanes and siding, car windshields and porch railings said Thursday that the science confirms what they already knew.

Tiffany Thompson, a former educator, explained that she noticed 3- and 4-year-old students at Curtis Bay Elementary School impacted by the pollution decades ago.

“The kids had asthma. There were times when we had to bring the kids back inside because of the air quality, and that was 20 years ago,” Thompson said Thursday night. “The permit should be revoked so that we can start transitioning away from coal.”

In December 2021, an explosion at the coal piers rocked South Baltimore, shaking homes, shattering windows and sending a billowing cloud of smoke into the air. No injuries were reported from the blast.

Since then, both MDE and the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration have taken action against CSX, imposing fines and setting requirements for improvements.

In a statement, CSX spokesperson Sheriee Bowman said the railroad is taking the concerns seriously. Over the past five years, it has invested $60 million in improving the piers, according to the Jacksonville, Florida-based company website. CSX reported earnings of more than $1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

“We have made a number of significant investments focused on advancing long-term operational safety, improving dust control, and collecting 100% of storm water for onsite reuse at our facility,” Bowman wrote. “While we have focused on improving our operations in the community, it is important to note that the Curtis Bay Piers facility is located in a heavily industrialized area surrounded by a variety of other permitted industries.”

While the Curtis Bay waterfront is heavily industrialized, some homes in the Curtis Bay neighborhood are fewer than 1,000 feet away.

The study also included several anecdotes from Curtis Bay residents. A grandmother described filling a pool with water so her grandson could swim, only to find it covered in black dust the next morning. A mother described spraying off her house to get rid of the black dust. A patient with a respiratory condition described his worries about living in the neighborhood.

Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun

Heavy damage is seen on the coal transfer tower and north tunnel of the CSX Curtis Bay Pier.

For community advocates, the big question becomes: What will the state do with the findings?

Greg Sawtell, director of the Zero Waste Just Transition initiative at the nonprofit South Baltimore Community Land Trust, a partner in the study, said the community would like to see the sprawling facility complete all its operations under cover, by building structures to house the coal conveyance equipment rather than piling and storing in the open air. Sawtell said he also would like to see the community receive mitigation funds to compensate them for the health and well-being impacts of the coal dust.

Community groups also have called for an air pollution state of emergency to be issued for the neighborhood by the governor’s office. Sawtell noted that the governor’s office, as well as federal, city and state leaders, were invited to Thursday’s meeting. Staff members from City Councilor Phylicia Porter’s were the only representatives from an elected official to show up.

“That shows how much they care about our community that they couldn’t be here tonight. This is not something to play with. This is our lives. What else is it going to take?” Curtis Bay resident David Jones said Thursday. “I don’t want to have to die because of this. When they cut me open in 20, 30, 40 years, am I going to have the same lungs as a person who worked in a coal mine their whole life?”

First developed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the 1800s, the coal terminal ships mostly Appalachian coal, which arrives on trains in uncovered railcars, overseas by ship and along the coast by barge.

In 2021 and 2022, respectively, the Curtis Bay facility handled 8.6 million and 7.1 million tons of coal, according to the report. Baltimore City alone was responsible for 28.6% of total US coal exports in the first quarter of 2023, according to the report.

On its website, CSX said the improvements it’s been making reflect a shift from storing coal piled on site to dumping arriving rail cars of coal directly into its conveyor system to load ships.

The report said the coal trains can take up to six hours to dump.

“With all the evidence that has been presented, seriously like what else is there to say for you guys to shut this down,” Mount Winans resident Angela Smothers said. “It’s been killing us for years. What else is it going to take? Y’all are playing with too many people’s lives because they’re getting money.”

This article has been updated to correct David Jones name. The Sun regrets the error.