The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Baltimore:
Neighbors Versus Coal Polluter

Oct 28, 2024

Residents of South Baltimore’s Curtis Bay neighborhood demanded in recent meetings that the state of Maryland not renew the permit for a polluting and dangerous coal pier owned by rail freight giant CSX.

Not only was there an explosion at the terminal in the last days of 2021, but every day coal dust flies from trains entering and leaving the facility. Hundreds of workers there transfer between 1,500 and 2,500 tons or more of coal per hour from trains to ships.

Last year the pier shipped well over two billion dollars worth of coal. Baltimore is the nation’s second largest coal port after Norfolk, Virginia. But neighbors have to keep their windows shut to avoid the toxic dust.

Curtis Bay was once a neighborhood of tree-lined row-houses. The coal yard was built around 140 years ago. After that, the neighborhood housed a Coast Guard yard, a rail wheel factory, an oyster packing plant, chemical factories, an incinerator, and for many years, a huge shipbuilding yard. Neighbors working there produced fortunes for corporations, but today most residents are poor. Nearly two in five do not finish high school.

The neighbors are facing CSX, a huge corporation which made over five billion dollars last year and donates thousands to Maryland politicians. CSX couldn’t care less about the health of people in Curtis Bay. And so the community is fighting for itself.