How could this be happening?
In the waters around the Severstal steel mill at Sparrows Point, 10 miles from downtown Baltimore, concentrations of dangerous chemicals have been increasing. Now, as you’ll read in tomorrow’s Baltimore Brew, it turns out that the plant and the state of Maryland have known for at least four years about carcinogenic chemicals – including benzene and naphthalene – seeping from the plant and showing up in dangerously high levels, not only in groundwater but in harbor waters flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.

Where are state environmental officials in all this? They point to a 1997 consent decree that was called the biggest and most far-reaching pollution settlement in Maryland history. The purpose of the court-ordered decree was to clean up the steel mill and curb pollution that had fouled the air, water and land for more than a century. Twelve years later, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other citizens groups have called into question the effectiveness of the government’s enforcement of the decree.

The Brew’s Mark Reutter has been covering this issue since last spring. Over the coming weeks, we will zero in on aspects of the consent decree and tell you in detail about the progress (or lack of progress) made at the plant.