BALTIMORE — A member of Baltimore’s city council has questioned the failure of Maryland’s environmental agency to monitor methane levels at CSX Transportation’s Curtis Bay Coal Piers, and is calling for the immediate suspension of operations at the facility.
WJZ-TV reports the comments of Councilwoman Phylicia Porter came Wednesday during a council hearing on the December 2021 explosion at the facility [see “Explosion damages CSX coal facility …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 30, 2021]. No one was injured, although nearby residents reported broken windows and other damage.
Brian Hammock, CSX vice president of state government affairs, told the hearing “inadequate ventilation led to accumulation of methane” on the conveyor belt where the explosion occurred. WBAL-TV reports Chris Hoagland, director of Air and Radiation and the Maryland Department of the Environment, said the lack of methane monitoring is “a hole in our regulatory approach and we obviously have to think about how to plug it.”
The department will install methane monitors at the facility, while CSX said it is implementing new safeguards, such as new fans for ventilation and extensive air monitoring.
Residents of the neighborhood around the facility said they feel the facility is unsafe and has been a long-term source of air pollution. Porter said she would talk with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott about halting operations at the coal piers.
CSX says on its website that the Curtis Bay facility can handle 14 million tons of coal annually and has received more than $60 million in upgrades over the last five years
The railroad faces more than $120,000 fines from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration as a result of violations at Curtis Bay [see “CSX cited for serious violations …,” News Wire, July 12, 2022].
Yes Jeff, Newport News coal facility is still operational, albeit at sharply reduced volumes.
There are three coal export ports in B.C. One in Vancouver Harbour, one about 10 miles south of Vancouver at Roberts Bank and one at Prince Rupert. They handle coal from B.C., Alberta and also Wyoming.
Timothy, how about Newport News (CSX)? Is it still operational?
Yes Jeff, Newport News coal facility is still operational, albeit at sharply reduced volumes.
Most, if not all, of that coal going out of Baltimore is metallurgical, not steam coal How would you replace such a valuable, and needed, export? When Conrail owned and ran it there were never any problems; CSX can’t seem to even tie its shoes correctly.
Mr. Dicenso,
Neither Conrail nor its predecessors or successors ever owned or operated the Curtis Bay coal loading facility. You’re most likely thinking of the old Consolidated Coal facility in the southern end of Canton (or Lazaretto Point for the lighthouse buffs!),, on the other side of the Patapsco River/harbor.
Would I be correct in my thinking that their only handful of US ports handling coal for export; Baltimore & Norfolk on East Coast, Mobile, AL & on Mississippi River (Plaquemines Parish below New Orleans believe) in the Gulf and believe a small amount currently going out of Port of Richmond, CA. Port of LA or Long Beach handled coal for export at one point and that might have resumed but like Richmond maybe one or two unit trains a week, barely a dent compared to the other ports.
In the day and age of containers ruling the shipping world wouldn’t be surprised if Port of Baltimore doesn’t have some desire for their export facility to go away at some point.. Plus, proposed West Coast facilities where material handling was to be completely enclosed from offloading railcars, to storage to ship loading at Port of Longview, WA once upon a time and then Port of Oakland have been killed by state and local opposition. Heck, The Port of Oakland is trying to add a aggregate import facility (sand & crushed stone from British Columbia quarries) to service the Bay Area and even that is getting very stiff local opposition
..
Just see a long term shift of maybe more rail to barge to the gulf for transload which of course would up end some things in current rail movements
70+ percent of the worlds methane comes from swamps and wetlands
Please, do some research before posting!
Science Daily, 6/2019 is one source Globally emissions
What is the largest source of methane in the world?
Wetlands are the largest natural source of methane. This produces 78% of natural methane emissions.1The water-logged conditions of wetlands are perfect for microbes. They need environments with no oxygen and abundant organic matter. Part of wetland related emissions gets absorbed by methane-consuming microbes.
Swamps and wetlands are CARBON sinks!
Well that kind of makes sense then. A swamp would be a carbon sink because plants consume CO2. Then they die and decompose. That process makes methane. Just random thoughts, don’t have time to clutter up the idea with researching facts…
Do you have any evidence that the Council does not take gun violence seriously? Also, since there have been large fines levied on CSX, there is a body of facts out there. The site did explode, remember. Should the council wait for another explosion before acting?
As a quarter-century Baltimore-area resident until my wife and I came to our mutual senses recently, I can say that Baltimore City politicians have been all-talk-and-no-action on gun violence for decades, with a consistent average of around 300 gun deaths annually for years in spite of a declining populace. The evidence speaks for itself.
Maryland is 33rd in the US in gun deaths in recent statistics.. https://vpc.org/state-firearm-death-rates-ranked-by-rate-2020/
MS,WY, LA, AK, AL, MO are the top five.
I learned in statistics class in college you can make statistics justify any position you want. MD may be 33 on the list but that is for the whole state and there are not a whole lot of people in the western end of the state. What is the per capita rate of gun deaths in the city of Baltimore, that would be a bettet indication.
If only a Baltimore council person took just as much interest in the gun violence in their city, I might take their remarks more seriously. Let the MEPA investigate it and find out what the issues are so they can be addressed. Once the facts are out there, then make your pronouncements.