Louis Konopacki crabs and fishes on Bear Creek and worries about pollution from the nearby mill.

Story and photos by FERN SHEN
A meeting Tuesday night in Edgemere suggests the stakes are getting higher and the tension is ratcheting up, in the communities near the Sparrows Point steel mill, as environmental groups threaten to sue state and federal officials over pollution from the mill and residents mount a separate class action lawsuit.

Members of the audience of about 25 people expressed anger when they heard the results of the latest testing conducted by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation who, together with the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, are planning legal action to get the government to enforce a 1997 consent decree.

A CBF scientist said she had recently tested the sediment in the shallow waters near the mill, where people might crab, fish or swim, and found these areas to be just as contaminated with toxic chemicals and metals as the deeper waters.

“We went into shallow places. It was amazing. Here’s a ladder into the water, here’s a slide. And (the contamination is) at levels that exceed some human health thresholds,” said senior water quality scientist Beth McGee, who presented preliminary results of the sampling she conducted in May.
((CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed quotes from Dave Polanowski to John Cirri, who did not attend the meeting. Polanowski was also misidentified in a photo caption. Baltimore Brew regrets the error.))
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Tyler Chambers, 13, fishing at Chesterwood Park, less than a mile from the Sparrows Point steel mill. Photo by Fern Shen.

A special report by MARK REUTTER
Something wasn’t right with the government-ordered cleanup of the Sparrows Point steel mill. The tip-off for Beth L. McGee, senior water quality scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, was the level of contamination in sediment samples brought to light last year not by state or federal regulators, but by a third party.

The new sediment tests indicated that environmental conditions in the waterways near the Point had not improved and, in fact, many hazardous chemicals were in greater concentrations than what was reported back in 1996.

AES Energy Corp., which had commissioned the tests as part of its effort to put a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Sparrows Point, found sediments in the Patapsco River laced with chromium, copper, lead, mercury, zinc and other toxic metals.

“The results were alarming,” McGee said, “because they were higher than samples that had been previously collected in the harbor, including around the steel mill.” Read the rest of this entry »

Sparrows Point, 1953. Photo courtesy Bethlehem Steel Corp.

By MARK REUTTER
Patapsco Neck has long been the greasy elbow of greater Baltimore, a dumping ground for hazardous wastes and cancer-causing metals produced by the steel mill at the boot of the peninsula, then spread by wind and water to surrounding communities.

A recent report by the Baltimore Sun’s Tim Wheeler — that the Sparrows Point mill has allegedly failed to live up to a 1997 agreement to clean up contaminated soil and ground water around its 2,500-acre facility — is part of a long history of regulatory neglect by state officials.

It was neglect that flourished at a time when everyone, from Johns Hopkins University experts to Dundalk homeowners, was predisposed to downplay dirty discharges from the area’s largest employer. Read the rest of this entry »

©J.S. Peterson. USDA NRCS NPDC. United States, DC, Washington, USDA

STREET NATURAL
By HEATHER DEWAR
You say you daydream about being a scientist, but aren’t quite ready to give up your day job? Then join a nationwide network of citizen scientists helping researchers keep track of the changes brought by global warming.
If you live around Baltimore, all you have to do is find some Black-eyed Susans, which should be almost effortless. Cheap and cheery, the black-and-gold flowers are in every city neighborhood – they’re as hardy as cockroaches and much, much prettier. Read the rest of this entry »

Shadbush blooming near Perring Parkway.

STREET NATURAL
Story by HEATHER DEWAR, photos by FERN SHEN

Give yourself a pat on the back if you know the connection between fish and these flowers. There’s a muffin connection too…. Read the rest of this entry »