Filed under: News | Tags: Baltimore Coal Ash Dump Hawkins Point, Constellation Energy, Hazardous Waste
Constellation Energy Given OK To Dump Coal Ash In Baltimore City
From Tim Wheeler at the Baltimore Sun (excerpts) :
After more than a year of deliberation, the Maryland Department of the Environment authorized the disposal of up to 650,000 tons of ash in a specially prepared section of a chemical company landfill at Hawkins Point. Robert M. Summers, the agency’s acting secretary, said in a statement that two-year-old regulations for new ash landfills should prevent any harm to public health or the environment.
The ash landfill, to be operated by Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, is the first new disposal site for power plant waste to be approved in the state since 2007. That’s when officials discovered that some Gambrills residents’ wells had been contaminated with toxic chemicals from ash that Constellation Energy had been dumping in old quarries in the area. The company paid a $1 million fine to the state and reached a $54 million out-of-court settlement with residents.
Constellation Energy plans to dispose of 200,000 tons of ash on the 65-acre Hawkins Point tract from its three Baltimore area coal-burning power plants.
Activists have called on the EPA to declare coal ash a hazardous waste because it can contain toxic metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury. The EPA has yet to complete its review, though, and recently announced it would take more time.
For the full article, CLICK HERE.
Filed under: Baltimore Agriculture, Events, Sustainable Living | Tags: Baltimore Farming, Baltimore Participation Park, Farm Together Now Book Release
Book Release Party At 2640 Space: Farm Together Now
On Wednesday, January 7th at 7pm, the 2640 Space will host a free event celebrating the release of Farm Together Now: A portrait of people, places and ideas for a new food movement, a documentation of the insurgent agriculture movement in the United States.
The book profiles 20 innovative farms across the country, who are rethinking the connections between food, land, and community, one harvest at a time.
It’s a beautiful and much needed overview of recent developments in grassroots sustainability in the U.S. and a top pick of the year by Michael Pollan.
Co-editor Daniel Tucker, as well as members of Baltimore’s Participation Park, who are featured in Farm Together Now, will be there for the presentation of the book.
