State again sues medical waste incinerator
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.
In a statement, Curtis Bay Energy said it “remains committed to operating compliantly within all specified parameters required by its permit” from MDE.
“We have been self-reporting when we have exceeded legally required standards and have worked diligently with the Department to address compliance,” wrote Kelly Love, a representative for the company. “The root causes of the vast majority of the issues cited in the Complaint have already been corrected and Curtis Bay Energy is focused on preventing them from occurring in the future.”
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.
In a joint statement Thursday, the Land Trust and the Community of Curtis Bay Association called for the incinerator’s operations to be suspended immediately due to the continued violations. Gov. Wes Moore’s administration should compel the facility to produce a decommissioning plan, as well, the nonprofits said.
The nonprofits are also calling on local hospitals to divert their waste away from the facility, and for the Baltimore City Council to reverse a law that has allowed the incinerator to take in waste from out-of-state since the 1990s.
“Our community, facing the highest environmental justice burdens in the state, demands an end to the blatant disregard for the health and safety of our residents, workers and environment,” read the joint statement.
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.