Mfume and Curtis Bay community push for stronger regulation of coal trains

BALTIMORE — Carbon pollution is a serious problem for Curtis Bay residents.
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​They claim that tests of dust from the area have shown traces of carbon.
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​“They all say the same thing. There’s this dark dust, probably coal dust, on their houses, on their cars, inside their houses to the point where they can’t even open the windows,” said Carlos Sanchez of the Curtis Bay Land Trust, which is pushing for a cleaner environment in the area.
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​Community organizations from across the country have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to require railcars used to transport coal to have hard covers on top.​
​Reducing the amount of pollutants released into the air.
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​The move is a response by local groups to pressure from the Maryland Department of the Environment to tighten its policies on carbon pollution.​
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​“It was a petition that was sent to MDE (Maryland Department of the Environment) about ten years ago. So it took a long time to get the coal terminal and the coal trains covered.”
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​Congressman Kweisi Mfume put pressure on the EPA during a congressional hearing, asking why nothing was being done. ​
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​“Poor white kids, poor black kids, poor Latino kids are living there now, breathing that air. They’re growing, they’re developing, they’re increasing their asthma and other related respiratory diseases. To me, that’s much more important than the profit margin of some of these companies,” Mfume said.
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​Mfume invited EPA Administrator Michael Regan to Curtis Bay to see what impact coal dust was having on the local community.
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​No decision has yet been made on the petition to impose a requirement to cover railway wagons.

We contacted CSX, the company that transports coal to and from Curtis Bay, but have not received a response.