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 Campaigns > Local Action > Maryland
Maryland
Residents in Baldwin are organizing to address the plan developed by the U.S. Army to cleanup portions of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Numerous chemicals have been identified in soil including arsenic, lead, PCBs, dioxins, and PAHs. CHEJ is helping the group interpret the test results and providing organizing assistance. (Spring 2008).
In Dundalk, nearby residents are getting organized to block a plan to build a new liquid natural gas (LNG) facility in their neighborhood. LNG is compressed so that it can be easily transported, a process that makes it especially flammable. Just two years ago, an LNG explosion in Algeria killed over 100 people. Concerned residents are also trying to prevent the construction of an 87-mile pipeline that would take the LNG from ships docked on the South Baltimore coast to a facility in Eagle, Pennsylvania. CHEJ has begun providing organizing support and has connected them with a group in Fall River, MA who are veterans of the LNG siting issue.
Frederick County is dangerously close to becoming the first U.S. community in almost 15 years to build a new trash incinerator. The proposed burner would accept trash from surrounding counties and be built in partnership with neighboring Carroll County. For several years residents in both Frederick and Carroll counties have overwhelmingly rejected the incinerator through testimony at public hearings, ongoing letters to representatives and local papers, and the founding of opposing civic groups. National and local environmental groups have voiced their opposition, as have historical groups wishing to preserve the Monocacy National Battlefield, an endangered Civil War site. They have also held public forums with guest speakers, visited progressive communities, and proposed non-incinerator alternatives. The county commissioners, however, remain unconvinced despite the prohibitive cost of the incinerator (approx. $350 million). Residents refuse to give up and hope to raise the national profile of their fight. Building a waste incinerator would not only be a defeat for Frederick County, but it also threatens the sustainability of many other communities. To support this effort and for more information see here. Contributions from Sally Sorbello. (Winter 2008)
In Howard County, Responsible Growth in Our Neighborhood (RGION) is fighting to ensure safe development of an old golf course site where a developer wants to build a housing complex. The group is concerned about the presence of mercury, arsenic, chlordane, DDT, and other hazards from the pesticides used on the grass while the golf course was in operation. Although the developers hired a consultant to test the site, which revealed some contamination, RGION is pushing for more extensive testing. They also have succeeded in introducing a bill in the state legislature that would require testing of old golf courses prior to development and are working to convince their legislators to pass this bill.
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