Over the decades of industrial activity around Baltimore’s Curtis Bay community, residents have charged that the biggest generator of health-harming air pollution has been the CSX facility, whose mountain of black coal has loomed over the neighborhood, waiting to be transferred to ships.

Now research conducted by experts at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and South Baltimore community members offers hard evidence of the link.

Levels of certain air pollutants – including particulate matter and black carbon – were found to be highest when there was both visible bulldozer activity and wind blowing westward from the coal terminal toward homes, schools and businesses.

The findings were published yesterday in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health.

Senior author Christopher D. Heaney, associate professor at Hopkins’ Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, tackled the issue in earlier research after the 2021 explosion at the facility. The result was a study published in November 2024 confirming the presence of coal dust in the Curtis Bay community as far as three quarters of a mile from the terminal.

To conduct this latest study, the research team set up air pollutant monitors in and around the far South Baltimore community and positioned a camera to document bulldozer activity around the coal piles.

Trail camera images recorded activity from September 16, 2022 to June 28, 2023. Footage was reviewed to identify coal transport trains, coal export barges and the use of a dust wet suppression system, in addition to the bulldozer action.

Coal dust is well known to cause respiratory diseases among miners.

While less is known about the health impacts in community settings, “continued exposure to particulate matter and black carbon air pollution at sufficient levels has been linked to adverse health impacts, including respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological and reproductive diseases,” noted a summary released with the study.

“The approach we used revealed that the coal terminal is a significant driver of air pollution burdens in this community,” Heaney said in the summary.

MDE Permit Pending

The study comes at a time when the facility, which dates back to the 1880s, is under fire by community members as a health hazard.

The 2021 explosion, which shattered glass and sent black particles raining down on back yards and car windshields, helped galvanize opposition to the railroad company’s operations there.

Ever since, community members have held protests at the facility, pointed to the academic studies (here and here) that show harmful levels of black carbon from coal present in the community and filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Last September, residents observed what appeared to be a ballast cleaning vehicle machine blowing gritty material out of the ballast stones underneath the rails and ties at the facility.

They reported the clouds of black particulates to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), prompting the agency to issue a notice of violation.

CSX responded by saying that “supplemental dust suppression equipment was brought in to reduce dust migration and finish the work.”

Meanwhile, the South Baltimore Community Land Trust, noting that the track cleaning activity and dust clouds continued after they were reported to the state, said the incident is one more reason why the company should not be allowed to continue operating.

MDE is now considering a draft permit that would allow CSX to continue coal transfer operations as long as it makes changes to reduce the amount of dust it generates.

The changes include constructing a physical barrier to prevent coal dust “from being transported from any coal storage piles on the site into the surrounding community,” according to the draft language.

The barrier is to surround the coal storage piles, and, if it is “open to the atmosphere from above, the maximum coal pile height shall be maintained at a level that is less than the height of the physical barrier,” the draft says.

The authors of the latest study say their findings indicate that current mitigation measures – including a wind fence and wetting system for suppressing coal dust – are not adequate.

“Currently, the facility maintains a wet dust suppression system and has a partial porous wind fence at the southern edge of the coal terminal,” the study said. “This suggests that off-site community air pollution burden is not reduced by wind screen netting mitigation strategies.”

“Our findings come at a critical time when Maryland is considering what can be done to reduce this air pollution burden in Curtis Bay,” Heaney noted, in the study summary.

“Options currently on the table include a full enclosure of the terminal, as well as denial of the terminal’s state permit renewal and a transition away from coal at that site.”

The Brew reached out to representatives from CSX and MDE who have not yet provided answers to our questions.

UPDATE: Responding after publication, MDE spokesman Jay Apperson said the last violation for the facility was in early September 2024 “for the dust emissions from track repair.”

“An enforcement action in that case is pending,” Apperson said.

A spokeswoman for CSX, Sheriee Bowman, provided this statement:

“CSX is committed to environmental compliance and strives to protect the environment and the safety and health of the public, our customers, and employees in all aspects of our operations.

CSX is proud of its nearly 200-year history in Baltimore and the Curtis Bay area. Our coal pier operations adhere to applicable regulatory standards, and we voluntarily invest in technologies and practices that exceed applicable standards set by federal and state governments.

The data from the Collaborative Investigation conducted by MDE and others as analyzed by third-party experts indicates the community is in attainment with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5 and PM10. (Response to Collaborative Report – Curtis Bay Piers Facts)

Since 2023, CSX has been monitoring PM2.5 and PM10 surrounding the Curtis Bay facility. Data from the fence line monitoring system installed along the perimeter of the property is shared quarterly with MDE and is also available to the public in real time on CSX’s air monitoring website.

The fence line monitors demonstrate that particulate matter concentrations at the Curtis Bay facility’s fence line are below the 24-hour primary and secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10 and PM2.5, which are health-based standards set by U.S. EPA. Continuous monitoring data and wind direction is publicly available: Monitoring – Curtis Bay Piers Facts.

It’s our focus to continue constructive discussions with the Maryland Department of the Environment that can lead to a better understanding of our commitment to environmental responsibility as well as collaborative efforts to reasonably address community concern.”