CBF thanks Baltimore leaders for blocking wastewater from East Palestine crash

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) thanked Baltimore leaders for their quick action to modify a company’s wastewater permit to prevent potentially toxic wastewater contaminated by the train crash in East Palestine, Ohio from arriving in Baltimore.

The contaminated wastewater from the crash was scheduled to arrive in Baltimore as early as Thursday, March 30 to be treated at a private facility operated by Clean Harbors. The treated wastewater was then to be routed to Baltimore’s troubled Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant was damaged by an explosion and fire earlier this month.

However, Clean Harbors announced that it would not process the wastewater in Baltimore. The announcement came after Mayor Scott said the city would deny the company’s request to discharge the treated wastewater from the crash through the city’s wastewater system.

“This was a poorly hatched plan from the beginning that failed to account for the ongoing and significant issues at Maryland’s largest wastewater treatment plant,” said Doug Myers, CBF’s Maryland senior scientist in response to the news. “We’re thankful Mayor Scott took the quick and bold action needed to stop this shipment of toxic wastewater from arriving in Baltimore. We urge Maryland and city leaders to re-focus on fixing the ongoing maintenance and staffing problems at the Back River and Patapsco wastewater treatment plants that have been documented for two years now.”

CBF opposed bringing the toxic wastewater to be treated in Baltimore due to the lack of information about what toxics and pollutants were in the water, how it would be treated, and the ongoing maintenance issues that have compromised the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant.