Baltimore, Maryland

Why this Information Is Important: The Curtis Bay Coal Piers in Baltimore, Maryland share similarities with Dominion Terminal Associates and Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals in Southeast Newport News. In both locations, coal is staged in heaping piles, terminals are served by CSX Transportation (CSX), and coal dust is an ongoing and unresolved issue in adjacent neighborhoods where residents are primarily African American. Curtis Bay was the site of a major coal dust-related explosion in 2021. While CSX was found to be a fault in the explosion, the company has faced minimal penalty. In 2025, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) announced a new, large-scale wind fence would be required to mitigate coal dust pollution, but many residents believe this is insufficient and want the coal terminal closed for good. Attention: Activists and advocates, researchers, policymakers

Overview

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  Image: Overhead view of the CSX Curtis Bay Piers in Curtis Bay, Baltimore (Google Earth). Photograph from the Maryland Department of the Environment.

The neighborhood of Curtis Bay in Baltimore, Maryland has the second largest coal terminal in the U.S., exporting 7 million tons of coal annually. The terminal is owned by the CSX Corporation and is known as the Curtis Bay Coal Piers and Bayside Coal Terminal or CSX Curtis Bay Piers. Coal at the CSX Curtis Bay Piers is staged in large dunes like at the Dominion Terminal Associates and Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals in Southeast Newport News.

Curtis Bay residents have long voiced concerns about coal dust pollution from the CSX Curtis Bay Piers. Community organizations fighting against coal dust pollution include the Community of Curtis Bay Association, Southern Baltimore Community Land Trust, and Free Your Voice.

Ms. Margaret Fox, Curtis Bay Resident: "I have seen, heard and felt impacts... over the course of my entire life... It scares me to think that more coal will be exported from this facility. I see [coal dust] on my furniture, deck, window sills, and siding of my house, and on door frames and air conditioner vents in my home... It scares me to think that more coal will be exported from this facility... More coal dust on my property and in the air I breathe could make it unbearable for me to stay in my home."

Jason Reed, Curtis Bay Resident, Director of the Filbert Community Garden in Curtis Bay: "Many of the students in my classes [at the community garden] have asthma or have other health problems that make them vulnerable to air pollution... It doesn't make sense for me to spend all day sweating over one acre of soil to provide healthy food for the community, but ignore the harmful effects of industrial pollution on acres and acres of adjacent land. It distresses me that yet more industrial activity is proposed for the Curtis Bay neighborhood but the people who will be directly affected have not been informed or consulted... I encourage people to participate in public meetings and other processes designed to allow them to voice their concerns and stand up for their rights to clean air and a healthy community. Yet, the Export-Import Bank [who planned to finance more coal transport through Curtis Bay] failed to give us any opportunity to participate in such a process."

Coal Terminal Explosion, 2021

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  Photograph: After the CSX Curtis Bay Piers explosion, shattered glass on the sidewalk in the 1600 block of Filbert Street. Photograph by Greg Sawtell.

On December 30, 2021, an explosion at the CSX Curtis Bay Piers heightened existing concerns about the harms of coal export through Curtis Bay. Though no injuries were reported, residents were frightened and many windows in the neighborhood were broken.

Community organizations focused on coal dust pollution took this opportunity to call for the closure of the CSX Curtis Bay Piers, citing long-held concerns about air quality, respiratory health, and the overwhelming number of other polluting industries located in the area.

Ray Conaway, Secretary of the Community of Curtis Bay Association: "We've been ringing the bell on this for a long time now... Maybe now, with this catastrophic event, people will pay attention.

Despite receiving more than $60 million for upgrades between 2017 and 2022, CSX admitted the CSX Curtis Bay Piers was inadequately ventilated and there was a lack of methane monitoring that led to the explosion. Methane is a gas that is emitted by coal rocks; it is the primary component of natural gas. The only tangible penalties to CSX in response to the explosion were a one month shutdown of the CSX Curtis Bay Piers and a $120,000 fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

When asked if dangerous chemicals or particulates were emitted in the explosion, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) said that they would allow the CSX to track and monitor those emissions.

In July 2022, GHD, an environmental and business consulting company, released a report on their investigation into the CSX Curtis Bay Piers explosion, Curtis Bay Piers Coal Facility Explosion Investigation: Cause & Origin Evaluation. GHD found that methane build-up from coal staged within the terminal was the source of the initial combustion, and that subsequent explosions were made worse by high levels of coal dust in the facility's North Reclaim Tunnel and poor ventilation. GHD also identified coal dust deposits from the explosion up to 12 blocks to the west of the facility in the Curtis Bay neighborhood. GHD concluded coal dust likely traveled through the air and the facility's escape tunnel and open feeder holes. CSX applied the conclusions from GHD's investigation into their redesign of the North Reclaim Tunnel, which included methane air monitoring, improved ventilation, additional water sprinklers for dust suppression, skirting around conveyors to reduce dust, the grounding of equipment, and the installation of various electrical fixtures to meet electrical codes.

In 2022, Curtis Bay residents filed a $5 million class-action lawsuit against CSX following the explosion.

Greg Sawtell, Co-President of the Community of Curtis Bay Association, in Support of the Lawsuit: "It's a breaking point. If you don’t step up and respond when a facility of that size literally blows up in your backyard and threatens your life, I don't think we can say we have a community, and the concern is we won't have a community if we don’t take a stand right now."

Community Activism

Residents and environmental organizations have long opposed the establishment of the CSX Curtis Bay Piers. Residents are angry that CSX has failed to prevent coal dust from becoming airborne and polluting their community. The primary existing measure of coal dust mitigation being wet dust suppression that residents call inadequate. The short-term vision is for CSX to pay damages for the harm it has inflicted on the community, including providing medical relief funds to Curtis Bay residents. In the long-term goal, residents and advocates want CSX to discontinue exporting coal through the CSX Curtis Bay Piers as part of a broader shift to renewable resources and energy.

Curtis Bay residents and advocates have produced many suggestions to city officials and state regulators for improving the coal dust issue. For instance, directly after the explosion, the Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) called on MDE to require CSX to monitor coal-related air pollutants and make this information accessible to the public. They also called upon MDE to lower emissions limits to protect the health and safety of Curtis Bay residents. According to Diana Dascalu-Joffe, Senior General Counsel at CCAN, the necessary pollution limits would need to "set the strictest standards possible" to seriously address the industrial pollution burdens forced on Curtis Bay residents for over a century. This would include enforceable limits on emissions, full enclosure of the CSX Curtis Bay Piers, for example, with a dome, to prevent coal dust from entering the Curtis Bay neighborhood, and a per ton mitigation fee to be paid to neighboring communities to redress the impacts of the CSX Curtis Bay Piers and the associated rail transport of coal through South Baltimore communities.

Wind Fence Requirement, 2025

In July 2025, MDE announced a new requirement for coal exporters in Curtis Bay to erect a wind fence to mitigate coal dust pollution. The CSX Curtis Bay Piers already had a very small wind fence at the property's southern edge that did not shield most of the coal staging piles. The wind fence requirement came as part of the revised air permit from NDE for the CSX Curtis Bay Piers.

This change in policy came a few days after researchers at John Hopkins University published a study showing that airborne dust and black carbon concentrations in Curtis Bay were higher when winds traveled over the coal staging piles at the CSX Curtis Bay Piers and when bulldozers were visibly active on the coal dunes.

Many residents and advocates believe the requirement for a wind fence, in addition to the wet suppression system, was insufficient. This was partly because the current wind fence is too small to be effective, while the proposed wind fence would be much larger. Many residents and activists wanted the CSX Curtis Bay Piers air permit cancelled instead or to at least have specific limits on the amount of coal dust that can enter the neighborhood.

Carlos Sanchez, an Organizer with the South Baltimore Community Land Trust: "No amount of coal dust is acceptable... The State of Maryland should not ask any community to treat toxic pollution as a fact of life—yet that’s exactly what’s happening here."

Relevance and Conversations with the Repair Lab

In 2023, the Repair Lab began meeting with activists in Curtis Bay. Organizers with the South Baltimore Land Trust and Free Your Voice expressed early interest in replicating the successful coal ban ordinance in Richmond, California. However, even working with a supportive Baltimore City Council Member, they could not make progress at the municipal level. Activists highlighted a key difference in Richmond was that there was political will to address coal dust pollution while in Baltimore there was not.

As a next step, organizers focused on an upcoming CSX air permit renewal. They partnered with researchers at John Hopkins University and MDE to demonstrate the neighborhood had elevated airborne dust levels using air monitoring, including one regulatory air monitor at the fenceline, and small strips of dust-collecting paper that were analyzed by microscopy. Activists in Baltimore expressed frustration with regulators, politicians, and industries that refused to acknowledge coal dust was a problem, despite the air monitoring data, claiming fog was to blame, and numerous residents' testimonies.

Organizers said the goal was full enclosure of terminal, for example with a dome, in the short term and stopping coal export through Curtis Bay Coal Piers entirely in the longer term.

Resources and Materials: See for Yourself and Dig Deeper

• Explosion at CSX Facility in Curtis Bay Shakes Residents, Workers Nearby, WBAL-TV 11, Undated
• Curtis Bay Piers Coal Facility Explosion Investigation: Cause & Origin Evaluation, CSX Transportation, GHD Services, Inc., July 29, 2022
• South Baltimore Land Trust and Free Your Voice Meeting with Repair Lab Team Members, May 26, 2023
• Deanes et al., Relation of Wind Direction and Coal Terminal Activity Patterns with Air Pollution Burden in a Community Bordering a Coal Export Terminal, Curtis Bay, Maryland, USA, Air Quality Atmosphere & Health, July 21, 2025
• Quarterly Coal Report, January–March 2025, U.S. Energy Information Administration, March 2025
• Permit-to-Operate, CSX Transportation, Inc. Curtis Bay Piers, No. 510-2263, Maryland Department of the Environment

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