This is murder!’: Coal-poisoned South Baltimore residents storm state capitol

On Dec 7, working-class residents of Curtis Bay and other South Baltimore neighborhoods marched through the streets of Annapolis and delivered a giant stocking full of coal to the Governor’s mansion. They are demanding Governor Wes Moore intervene in a generations-long struggle to stop rail giant CSX Transportation from polluting their bodies, homes, and communities with toxic coal dust.

CSX is not the only polluter in South Baltimore. Industrial areas near Curtis Bay house oil tanks, a wastewater treatment plant, chemical plants, landfills, the country’s largest medical waste incinerator, and more. But a recent air quality study confirmed what residents have been complaining about for generations: Coal dust from the CSX Transportation coal export terminal is present all over Curtis Bay. CSX has denied culpability and called the study “materially flawed.” Residents say they’re fed up with the company refusing to take responsibility for the coal dust, and with the city government for ignoring their cries for help for years. So they are demanding that Gov. Moore and the Maryland Department of the Environment deny CSX’s operational permit for the coal terminal, a permit that the MDE has been reviewing for renewal.

Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Norma Martinez
Post-Production: Kate Lindsay, David Hebden