CURTIS BAY, Md. — Since the CSX explosion back in 2021, the Curtis Bay community has been expressing concerns for their air quality and pushing back against the company, which is contributing to the damage.
WATCH: Johns Hopkins study confirms operations at Baltimore coal terminal caused air pollution in Curtis Bay community
Back in November of 2024, Dr. Chris Heaney from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published findings from a study, confirming the presence of coal dust in the air in Curtis Bay.
In response to the study, CSX sent a statement saying:
"Our coal pier operations adhere to strict regulatory standards, and we regularly invest in technologies and practices that go above and beyond those standards set by federal and state governments and maintain our own operational standards for environmental management."
On Monday, Dr. Heaney released new information from those findings that suggests the measures CSX put in place to reduce coal dust in the air don't actually help.
“The results and the analysis were quite clear that on average over that year every minute there was downwind from the coal terminal, particulate matter air pollution increased. Further, whenever there was visible bulldozer activity at any given minute, the particulate black carbon air pollution increased and was worse, and when both occurred at the same time when it was downwind from the coal terminal and we could observe visible bulldozer activity at the coal terminal, that's when the particulate matter and the black carbon air pollution was the most pronounced or most elevated,” says Dr. Chris Heaney.
Despite the Maryland Department of Environment updating its protective measures for the facility last fall, people living in Curtis Bay say the problem hasn't gotten better.
“Having this new information is kind of two things at once. One, it validates, you know, that people are experts of their own community. Number 2 is that expectation that with this new knowledge, with this new information, comes a responsibility, not on the community, but on officials whose job it is to safeguard all of our health,” says Greg Sawtell.
Greg Sawtell says neighbors are growing tired of seeing little change in protection from the state or CSX.
“But the idea that we have to back away from that expectation and engage in a battle for people's very right to breathe clean air and not worry about those things. It's just too much. I mean, honestly, that's where people are at,” he says.
Sawtell says the Curtis Bay community is and will continue to fight at the state level until legislation is created recognizing overburdened communities that need additional protection from these types of facilities, in hopes of protecting future generations from suffering the long-term effects of living in a heavily polluted area.
