Curtis Bay residents are calling on CSX to halt coal deliveries, ship safer materials
BALTIMORE -- Curtis Bay residents on Saturday marched and asked for support from local officials in pushing CSX to transport something safer than coal.
There was an explosion at a coal silo on Benhill Avenue on Dec. 30, 2021. It shattered windows and damaged homes in the Curtis Bay community.
Earlier this year, Residents in Baltimore's Curtis Bay community filed a class action lawsuit against CSX Transportation, claiming negligence resulted in a health-harming explosion at its facility in 2021.
The lawsuit states "knowing, intentional and reckless" conduct by CSX caused the explosion that released "poisonous and carcinogenic chemicals."
The residents who filed the lawsuit said the lawsuit left them with "potentially lethal levels of coal dust."
Today, Curtis Bay residents are asking that they no longer receive coal this Christmas.
The goal of their rally was to spread the message that their health needs to be the priority.
"It's all about health," one resident told WJZ. "It's about residents and residents shouldn't have to compromise their health in order for people to even keep a job. But it's not about saying like we're taking your job. It's to say, 'We want you to keep your job, but we want CSX—a billion-dollar company—to transport other material that is not coal next to a community and residents and where kids play.'"
The rally was held at Curtis Bay recreation center at 1 p.m.
CSX has operated out of Curtis Bay for 140 years.
Brian Hammock, the vice president of State Government Affairs for CSX, said the 2021 explosion was caused by a building of methane on the conveyor belt that wasn't being ventilated.