EPA will review civil rights complaint against city over Baltimore trash incinerator
By failing to wean the city off polluting BRESCO, the Scott administration is directly contributing to the unequal health risks faced by low-income Black neighborhoods, residents say
Above: Shashawnda Campbell, of the South Baltimore Community Land Trust, leads protest in 2022 against CSX coal operations in Curtis Bay. She is flanked by Meg Chow and Carlos Sanchez. (Fern Shen)
The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to investigate the civil rights complaint filed by South Baltimore residents who say the city has done little to end Baltimore’s dependence on a health-harming trash incinerator.
The Title VI complaint, filed in May, says that the 10-Year Solid Waste Plan by the Baltimore Department of Public Works (DPW) fails to adequately prepare the city for a transition away from reliance on the BRESCO incinerator, formerly known as Wheelabrator.
The city’s contract to burn trash at the aging incinerator, Baltimore’s biggest source of industrial air pollution, is set to be renewed in 2031 and continue for at least another three or four years.
• Pollution from BRESCO incinerator likely to continue through mid-2030s, DPW planning report says (4/27/23)
When Mayor Brandon Scott supported the last 10-year renewal of the BRESCO contract (after a campaign promise not to), he vowed to “aggressively” pursue Zero Waste goals “and make sure this is the last time we give them a new contract.”
But members of the South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT) say they have seen little evidence his administration is committed to doing so.
“Every day we live with the consequences of our city’s ongoing missed opportunity to budget for a just transition to zero waste away from toxic trash incineration,” said SBCLT’s Carlos Sanchez.
Baltimore trash incinerator towers over the Middle Branch. (Mark Reutter)
Sanchez said the the group is thankful the EPA decided to investigate its complaint, which was filed with assistance from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Environmental Integrity Project.
They argued in the complaint that the city’s lapses directly contribute to the unequal health risks faced by low-income residents living in Westport, Mt. Winans, Cherry Hill, Lakeland, Brooklyn and Curtis Bay.
These communities are categorized as disadvantaged by the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, indicating they are above the 90th percentile for environmental burdens.
Pollution from the incinerator also extends across the Middle Branch to more affluent South Baltimore, Riverside and Locust Point, and northward into Pigtown, Morrell Park and the central business district, depending on the wind direction.
High Concentration
A 2017 study commissioned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation found that living near the BRESCO incinerator was equivalent to living with a smoker.
Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act forbids recipients of federal funds from engaging in discriminatory practices on the basis of race, color or national origin.
The group’s 39-page complaint could potentially threaten federal funds to Baltimore that come from EPA for drinking water improvements and sewer plant upgrades.
Attorneys for the group point to the high concentration of health-harming facilities located near marginalized communities in far South Baltimore.
They include CSX’s sprawling and dangerous Curtis Bay coal transfer plant, DPW’s Patapsco Waste Water Treatment Plant, a medical waste incinerator that’s been subject to multimillion-dollar state fines and the methane-emitting Quarantine Road Landfill.
The facility is operated by the former Wheelabrator Technologies, which was rebranded in 2022 as WIN Waste Innovations.
City Response
Asked for comment when the complaint was first filed, DPW released this statement:
Public input was crucial in developing the city’s 10-Year Solid Waste Management Plan (2024-2033), a regulatory document which sets goals for managing the city’s waste stream and assesses current and future disposal needs. The plan includes expanded waste diversion initiatives aimed at reducing reliance on incineration and landfilling, thereby lowering emissions related to waste management.
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) is aware of South Baltimore Community Land Trust’s request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to examine the city’s use of the Baltimore Refuse Energy Systems Company (BRESCO) for residential waste disposal. The city and DPW stand ready to work with the EPA if and when the agency needs the city’s help in assessing these claims.