From Baltimore’s polluting facilities to industrial poultry farming on the Eastern Shore: Making the case for cumulative impacts analysis in Maryland’s environmental permitting and enforcement

Abstract:

Grassroots advocates and public health experts in Maryland have become increasingly interested in cumulative impacts analysis to better understand the impacts of social and environmental stressors in communities. Maryland has long grappled with a disproportionate burden of pollution being felt by Black and Latinx communities and low-income families. South Baltimore, for example, has more than 200 polluting facilities within a 2.5 mile radius of the city’s largest waste incineration facility. Nearby residents are predominantly people of color (65% compared to 48% state avg.) and low-income (49% compared to 23% state avg.). These communities also experience higher rates of asthma hospitalizations, cancer, and heart attacks compared to the state, on average. On the Lower Eastern Shore, industrial poultry farms have expanded significantly. Between 2011-2018, the number of industrial poultry farms in Maryland has nearly tripled. These facilities, which are not adequately regulated under the Clean Air Act, produce ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and particulate matter that contribute to pneumonia, asthma, stress, and respiratory and gastrointestinal infections among nearby residents. Nitrogen-rich manure also infiltrates groundwater, polluting the water that many rural residents rely on for drinking.

Grassroots and policy advocates attribute the high concentration of polluting operations across the state to the lack of agency oversight regarding siting and permitting of these facilities. In 2014 and 2015, bills proposed in the Maryland Senate would have required the Department of Environment to complete a cumulative impacts analysis for new or modified emission sources within close proximity to communities already burdened by pollution. However, neither bill passed, prompting researchers and advocates to embark on independent efforts to assess environmental hazards.

This presentation will discuss the disproportionate impacts of pollution on Maryland communities; efforts by researchers to develop a statewide environmental justice screening tool, informed by discussions with affected communities; and advocacy by a new statewide coalition and allies to assess permitting and enforcement challenges and push for consideration of cumulative impacts for air and water permitting decisions by the state.