Curtis Bay residents want CSX coal plant shut down despite $1.75 million settlement over explosion
BALTIMORE - CSX Transportation reached a settlement with Curtis Bay residents over a 2021 explosion at its south Baltimore site.
Activist group "Coal Free Curtis Bay" is pushing state regulators to shut down the CSX coal plant as the company reached a $1.75 million settlement in a class action lawsuit with Curtis Bay residents who live near the facility.
The explosion happened in December 2021 in the North Reclaim Tunnel. No one was injured in the explosion but the community was covered in coal dust.
Curtis Bay resident Angela Shaneyfelt said she hasn't opened her windows in 17 years.
"Fines aren't enough. Change to something cleaner," Shaneyfelt said.
On Monday, dozens marched to a CSX pier to issue a protest eviction notice, and demanded them to shut down the facility.
Who can file claims?
Residents filed a lawsuit claiming CSX Transportation failed to maintain the facility with care and they "breached that duty by negligently and improperly operating, supervising, and/or maintaining the Curtis Bay Facility in such a manner that proximately caused the release of coal dust and dangerous contaminants that blanketed the Class Area."
CSX said the explosion was caused by a buildup of methane.
The settlement defines the affected area where people who lived near the coal plant at the time of the explosion can file claims, stretching from near Benjamin Franklin High School on the north end, along Bay Avenue as the western border, and includes everyone living east to Curtis Avenue.
WJZ featured the mobile work last year of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration which tested air quality in the communities near the facility, confirming the presence of coal dust in the air.
Up for public review
State regulators will soon release a draft permit for public review, a process put on hold after the collapse of the nearby Francis Scott Key Bridge.
CSX said in a statemen that it has "invested more than $60 million in Curtis Bay piers over the last five years to advance long-term operational safety, improve dust control and collect 100% of stormwater for onsite reuse at our facility."
Terms of the settlement still need to be approved by the federal judge with a hearing scheduled for September.
