[Baltimore Sun] Maryland again files suit against Baltimore medical waste incinerator over pollution
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Maryland has filed another lawsuit against Curtis Bay Energy, a medical waste incinerator in South Baltimore, over air pollution violations.
The latest suit comes less than five months after Maryland announced a historically large environmental penalty against the incinerator, settling a previous legal action.
When the settlement was announced, the incinerator’s new owner, a private equity firm, pledged to clean up its act. But problems have continued at the facility, which is the nation’s largest medical waste incinerator.
Between April and December last year, the facility repeatedly exceeded its daily emissions limits for hydrogen chloride and carbon monoxide, according to the legal complaint filed Thursday in Baltimore City Circuit Court by the Maryland Department of the Environment.
In November, employees at the facility performed a test on its smokestack, which showed that the stack’s average emissions of particulate matter also were too high, according to the complaint. That same month, another quality assurance test showed that the incinerator’s equipment wasn’t providing accurate readings for hydrogen chloride.
In January and February, MDE received complaints of dark smoke coming from the incinerator, escaping through roof vents instead of the smokestack, which is supposed to treat smoke before it escapes into the surrounding environment. State officials were able to confirm about a dozen such instances.
Curtis Bay Energy did not respond immediately to a request for comment Thursday.
In a statement to The Baltimore Sun in February — in response to those reports of black smoke — Curtis Bay Energy representative Kelly Love said the operator “remains committed to operating compliantly within all specified parameters required by its permit.”
“To uphold our high environmental standards, Curtis Bay Energy management and staff have implemented multiple additional procedures and are exploring technology solutions that could add another layer of monitoring to help prevent these unintended events from occurring. We take seriously these concerns and will continue to prioritize the well-being of the public and our shared environment,” Love wrote in her statement.
Community members, who noticed the smoke, worked together to monitor the facility and report the incidents to MDE, said Greg Sawtell, director of the Zero Waste Just Transition campaign at the South Baltimore Community Land Trust. Inspectors from the state were then able to visit the facility and document many of the incidents, according to the complaint.
The state is asking for a preliminary injunction, which could force the incinerator to make improvements, and fines of up to $25,000 per environmental violation.
“I am disappointed that violations continued after my office’s historic case last year against this company,” Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a statement. “The complaint filed in court by the Department of the Environment is critical. It sends a clear message that no one, including the community, has stopped watching, and if you don’t follow the rules, there will be consequences.”
Maryland’s previous lawsuit against Curtis Bay Energy was mainly focused on allegations that the facility was not adequately burning potentially infectious medical waste. Instead of transporting a fine ash to a Virginia landfill, as it was required to do, the facility was sending waste piles where items like medical waste bags were still visible. Curtis Bay Energy agreed to a $1 million fine, plus a $750,000 payment for local environmental projects.
In December, Maryland entered into a separate agreement with Curtis Bay Energy, focused on illegal storage of solid waste on the site. That resulted in a consent order and a $132,500 penalty.
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