Baltimore City

Baltimore City has a long history of environmental and climate injustices.

Current issues include:

• Poor air quality, particularly in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of South Baltimore.

• Sea-level rise. The lowest-lying neighborhoods suffer most — and those are inhabited disproportionately by poor Baltimoreans of color (“Opinion: Baltimore, Environmental Justice and Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda,” Maryland Matters, Oct. 12, 2021)

• Lack of reliable, safe, accessible public transit. In 2015, Gov. Larry Hogan canceled Baltimore’s proposed Red Line Light Rail project, returning $900 million earmarked for the project to the federal government and redirected funding to building new roads that serve mostly white communities.

• The BRESCO Incinerator, operated by Wheelabrator, is Baltimore’s biggest single stationary source of air pollution, located in the Westport neighborhood, exposing that neighborhood’s overwhelmingly Black population disproportionately to its toxic pollution.

• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution emitted by the BRESCO trash incinerator.

• Black Americans in Baltimore are disproportionately impacted by water affordability issues, as water rates have risen more rapidly than the national average, partly due to failing infrastructure. Studies show that by 2022, the average annual water bill for Baltimore citizens will be triple the national average of 2010 water bills. (“A look at environmental justice issues in Maryland,” Climate-Xchange, January 14, 2022.)

• Baltimore is the second largest coal-exporting port on the East Coast, and coal dust can adversely affect residents living near terminals and rail lines that ship coal.