CLICK TO ENLARGE. Source: Toxic Release Inventory, EPA.

by MARK REUTTER
The Sparrows Point steel mill is discharging pollutants into Baltimore’s outer harbor under a state permit that expired 45 months ago and has not been updated since 2001, a review of Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) records shows.

The failure of MDE to review and reissue pollution permits “in a timely manner” was one of the systemic regulatory lapses cited  by environmental groups who yesterday called on the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take over the state water permit program to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Eliza Smith Steinmeier, director of Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, called Sparrows Point “a big example of the systematic failure of MDE to effectively administer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System,” which controls wastewater coming out of factory outfalls and sewage pipes.

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by MARK REUTTER
     Environmental regulators are asking the Sparrows Point steel mill to prepare final cleanup procedures at three sites where chemical wastes have been buried for decades. Although the sites were part of a court-ordered cleanup in 1997, this is the first time regulators are requiring corrective measures, rather than open-ended studies, to handle the waste.

     The directive, however, does not address pollution leaking from the sites into Baltimore Harbor, raising the hackles of critics who say such “off-site” cleanup is required under the 12-year-old consent decree signed by Bethlehem Steel Corp., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).
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Maxine Thompson and Phyllis Seward by Bear Creek. Photo by Mark Reutter.

by MARK REUTTER

      Phyllis Seward is not surprised by the Maryland Port Administration pollution study showing that Turners Station is the community most affected by contaminated water coming from Sparrows Point. Born and raised there, Seward has watched her community’s quality of life deteriorate under a pall of pollution.

     “We’ve been bombarded by land and sea for years — no, make that decades,” Seward said.

     Turners Station, tucked into the southwest corner of Dundalk, is dwarfed by the steel mill that looms to the east on Bear Creek. The mill is the reason for the community’s existence and has been the cause of much of its distress, according to Seward.

     “I’ve seen our beaches close and watched fish die,” she said. “The whole marine atmosphere has changed.”

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Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

by MARK REUTTER

     A widely anticipated Maryland Port Administration study mapping pollution coming from the Sparrows Point steel mill confirms that cancer-causing benzene has infiltrated Baltimore harbor and may have migrated to shorefront communities through harbor currents and tides.

     The report, dated Nov. 2009, has not yet been posted on the agency’s website or publicly released. The Brew obtained a copy from sources.
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by MARK REUTTER

     The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is again threatening to sue environmental regulators and Severstal North America if action is not taken against illegal discharges of cancer-causing benzene and other pollutants into Baltimore harbor.

     Jon A. Mueller, CBF’s director of litigation, criticized state and federal agencies for not insisting that immediate measures be taken to stop the flow of toxic chemicals from the Sparrows Point steel mill. Mueller was responding to Severstal’s claim, reported last week in the Brew, that it was not responsible for investigating or cleaning up so-called “historical contamination” from the plant.

     “If the state and federal government fail to act in a timely way,” Mueller said, “we will be forced to take action.”

((Listen to Mark discuss our Sparrows Point coverage at 9 am tomorrow ( Tuesday) on Sheilah Kast’s Maryland Morning show, on WYPR FM.))

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