The furnaces may soon be temporarily idled, but the longstanding issue of pollution at the Sparrows Point steel mill will be the subject of a public hearing tonight at the North Point-Edgemere Volunteer Fire Hall, 7500 North Point Rd., between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.

Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) will give reports of the work conducted under a 1997 consent decree that was supposed to clean up pollution at the mill.

The meeting will be open to questions from the community, where passions on the question of preserving the environment, versus saving steel-mill jobs, run high.

Baltimore Brew has been investigating the pollution issue for over a year.  Here are some of our posts:

* Polluting Turners Station and Dundalk: A Maryland Tradition. 5/31/09

* Chemical pollution in harbor near Sparrows Point appears to be rising, despite court-ordered cleanup. 6/22/09

* Sparrows Point admits toxic chemicals have been leaking into harbor for years. 11/23/09

* High levels of Sparrows Point benzene confirmed by Port study, chemical may have reached nearby communities. 12/02/09

* Turners Station residents say Sparrows Point pollution is hurting the land and their health. 12/03/09

* Sparrows Point furnace “belches” continue: worried workers blame company cost-cutting. 12/15/09

* State touted Sparrows Point pollution controls, but never made them happen. 03/04/10

* As union and management bicker over jobs, Sparrows Point faces big challenges from other mills. 06/07/10