EPA to probe civil-rights complaint over Baltimore’s trash incineration
The smokestack of the WIN Waste Innovations incinerator, which converts trash into energy. Environmental justice groups say pollution from the plant disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Photo by Joe Ryan/Capital News Service.
By Timothy B. Wheeler
Chesapeake Bay Journal
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it will investigate a civil rights complaint against Baltimore alleging that Black and Hispanic communities in the southern part of the city suffer disproportionate health impacts from a waste-to-energy plant that incinerates trash.
The federal agency notified city officials by letter July 12 that it had accepted the South Baltimore Community Land Trust’s complaint. The nonprofit group is represented by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Environmental Integrity Project.
In its May 28 filing, the trust contends that the city is discriminating against residents of Cherry Hill, Mount Winans, Brooklyn, Lakeland, Westport and Curtis Bay by relying on trash incineration as a key part of its 10-year solid waste management plan.
The filing argues that residents of those predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are disproportionately harmed by air emissions from the incinerator, which is owned by New Hampshire-based WIN Waste Innovations.
The incinerator, located along Interstate 95 near where the Gwynns Falls flows into the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, is the largest stationary source of industrial air pollution in Baltimore. Environmentalists contend that its emissions of mercury, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter contribute to respiratory issues, heart conditions and other serious health problems for nearby residents.
The group wants the EPA to remedy the situation by requiring the city to divert municipal waste from the plant while increasing composting and recycling.
“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 Carlos Sanchez, the trust’s youth outreach specialist and a Lakeland resident.
“The good news is that this is a fixable problem,” Sanchez said, “and we are confident that our city leadership, who understand the importance of equity, will step up and do the right thing and begin to treat this environmental justice issue with the urgency it deserves.”
Mary Urban, a spokesperson for WIN Waste Baltimore, said the company is “confident an independent evaluation, including an examination of our recently installed $45 million air-quality control systems, will confirm [that the facility] operates well below strict federal and state emissions limits that safeguard public and environmental health.” She also noted that the EPA considers “safely extracting energy” from unrecycled waste an acceptable method of waste management.
Jennifer Combs, spokesperson for the city’s Department of Public Works, issued a statement saying city officials would cooperate with the EPA’s investigation.
“We stand ready to work with the EPA in assessing these claims,” she said.
Earlier, when the complaint was still being reviewed by the EPA, Combs had said that the city’s 10-year plan already calls for diverting waste to recycling and away from incineration or landfilling.
Acceptance of the trust’s civil rights complaint is just the first step in a process that could take many months or even years.
The EPA has rejected the vast majority of the more than 300 complaints filed with its civil rights office in the last decade. In some cases, it has negotiated agreements to address complaints. Others have been referred to other federal agencies for action.
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