No Coal in Curtis Bay

On December 30, 2021, a  coal explosion  at CSX Curtis Bay Coal Terminal in Baltimore, MD, shattered windows & shook homes, coating the surrounding community in coal dust. What began as an initial inquiry into CSX's explosion in South Baltimore has led us on a trail tracing money, political power, environmental damage, & labor injustice across the United States.

This page was put together to illustrate how communities across the country have wrestled with CSX & why lessons from the past continue to be lost. We begin by mapping CSX's rail routes across the United States & shipping routes around the world. We then discuss the numerous environmental & labor complaints filed against CSX. Finally, we describe the political lobbying CSX has conducted locally & federally. We end with ways you can get involved in the fight against CSX's harm.

Have a story to share about your experience?  Click here to share .

Domestically, out of over twenty studied towns along the CSX route from West Virginia to Curtis Bay, more than 80% had median home values and median household incomes below the national average. About 65% also had poverty rates above the national average ( source ). Additionally, 11 out of the 15 counties that include or border a CSX route had bronchus and lung cancer rates above the national average ( source ).

Internationally, contrary to CSX's claims that their coal has helped Europe's energy crisis, our findings from one shipping company indicate that this isn't true: the type of coal that they ship to Europe isn't the one used as an energy source ( source ).

Below is a map of all CSX operations across the country, with coal lines highlighted in orange.

Using CSX's most recent system map, we have produced two additional maps below. The first map indicates routes along which CSX transports coal. The second map illustrates CSX's international trading routes.

Points on the maps depict:

• Rail lines: connect different cities & stations. Our map shows the routes indicated by CSX as belonging to their coal network, which are concentrated in West Virginia, Kentucky, & Ohio, with ports in Maryland, South Carolina, & Virginia.
• Fly ash dumping grounds: a coal combustion residual made up of particles released from coal-fired boilers, alongside flue gases. Chemical constituents of fly ash from coal plants (arsenic, barium, cadmium, nickel, and lead) are hazardous carcinogens and known causes of fatal lung and heart ailments and neurological damage. Active and inactive utility plants and prospective disposal sites were found on the CSX map  here .
• Coal piles: piles of coal waiting to be transported elsewhere, whether waiting at the mine or an intermediary location, such as the coal yards in Curtis Bay. These were located using several maps made available by CSX  here .
• Ships: tools to export coal to different countries. The ships go from Curtis Bay to other destinations, as reported by one shipping company ( source ).

From 2000-2022, CSX has paid a total of $229,806,104 in legal damages for environmental violations. Since the year 2000, CSX has been sued & charged over 50 times for environmental violations, with only one of them being a criminal charge.

The graphs and map below show litigated environmental violations by CSX from 2000-2022 ( source ). They are categorized as follows:

• Water quality violation: when contaminants in water bodies exceed the maximum level allowed for that contaminant by the EPA.
• Air quality violation: when contaminated substances that are dangerous to humans, animals, plants, or property and/or impede the enjoyment of life or property are released into the atmosphere.
• Hazardous waste/waste management violation: when waste materials are improperly disposed of, when hazardous waste is not identified, when more waste than is allowed is generated, and/or when hazardous waste is handled without the appropriate permit.
• Administrative order-on-consent (AOC): an agreement between an individual, business, or other entity and a regulatory body in which the offender agrees to pay for damages caused by violations and to cease activities that caused them to occur  (source). 

Since the year 2000, CSX has paid over $26 million in damages and/or settlements relating to labor violations. CSX has shown systematic disregard for the safety & lives of their own workforce.

❗If CSX is incapable of protecting its own workers, how could it possibly be able to protect the communities they pollute in?

The labor violations in the map below are from 1990-present (non-exhaustive). Labor violations are grouped into 3 categories:

• Discriminatory Practices & Workers’ Rights Violations: This covers complaints regarding sexual harassment, gender-based workplace discrimination, and medical and family leave.
• Workplace Safety Violations: Violations and reports regarding dangerous work conditions or improperly maintained facilities, sourced mainly from OSHA records and legal cases
• Whistleblower Retaliation: Internal retaliatory action towards employees who report unsafe conditions or act in the best interest of the safety of others.

Curtis Bay residents have reported toxic coal dust in the community for decades. Despite this, the Maryland Department of the Environment has failed to set stricter standards at the CSX coal terminals. Here are some of the many concerns that residents have expressed.

Lobbying is defined as an attempt to influence government action (laws) by written or oral methods. Large corporations like CSX typically lobby with the goal of benefiting their industry.

In the map below, we highlight 3 different types of lobbying. In looking at these maps, we invite you to think about why CSX is giving money to this organization/campaign/committee & explore the website links.

• Political Campaign: CSX’s monetary support to specific political campaigns or committees (at the local, state, or federal level) that align with their values.
• Trade Association: CSX’s contributions to organizations run by businesses of a specific industry; for example, the Association of American Railroads.
• Community Grants: CSX’s contributions to community-based organizations and initiatives in the Baltimore area.

In the first half of 2022, CSX has given about $500,000 in political contributions. While CSX has  given to nefarious groups in the past , it seems CSX is  changing its stance on climate in recent years . In terms of charitable giving, given that the CEO of CSX made $20 million in  2021  (compared to CSX’s median employee salary of $107,000), we invite viewers to take a more critical eye at what is not included on this map.

We focused on the most recent giving data from CSX (FY2022). For the CSX Foundation (the grant-giving charitable trust of CSX), the most recently available 990 tax form is from 2019 due to COVID-related extensions. Finally, we incorporated a handful of highly publicized local community investments made in 2017.

Want to support the movement to get coal out of Curtis Bay?  Sign our petition!