BALTIMORE — A member of Baltimore’s city council has questioned the failure of Maryland’s environmental agency to monitor methane levels at CSX Transportation’s Curtis Bay Coal Piers, and is calling for the immediate suspension of operations at the facility.
WJZ-TV reports the comments of Councilwoman Phylicia Porter came Wednesday during a council hearing on the December 2021 explosion at the facility [see “Explosion damages CSX coal facility …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 30, 2021]. No one was injured, although nearby residents reported broken windows and other damage.
Brian Hammock, CSX vice president of state government affairs, told the hearing “inadequate ventilation led to accumulation of methane” on the conveyor belt where the explosion occurred. WBAL-TV reports Chris Hoagland, director of Air and Radiation and the Maryland Department of the Environment, said the lack of methane monitoring is “a hole in our regulatory approach and we obviously have to think about how to plug it.”
The department will install methane monitors at the facility, while CSX said it is implementing new safeguards, such as new fans for ventilation and extensive air monitoring.
Residents of the neighborhood around the facility said they feel the facility is unsafe and has been a long-term source of air pollution. Porter said she would talk with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott about halting operations at the coal piers.
CSX says on its website that the Curtis Bay facility can handle 14 million tons of coal annually and has received more than $60 million in upgrades over the last five years
The railroad faces more than $120,000 fines from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration as a result of violations at Curtis Bay [see “CSX cited for serious violations …,” News Wire, July 12, 2022].
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