Valerie Hsu, Author at South Baltimore Community Land Trust

Excellence in Baltimore Public Health Practice Award 2026

Congratulations to our SBCLT friends and partners who have been awarded the Excellence in Baltimore Public Health Practice award by the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University! This recognition was awarded in collaboration with JHU SOURCE, the Community Engagement and Service-Learning Center for the JHU Schools of Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine.

The team that won the prize is composed of:

Matthew A. Aubourg, MSPH — BSPH Title and Affiliation: PhD Candidate; Center for a Livable Future Lerner Fellow, Steve Wing track, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering
Lauren Deanes, PhD — BSPH Title and Affiliation: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering
Abhirup Datta, PhD, MStat — BSPH Title and Affiliation: Professor, Department of Biostatistics‌‌
Christopher D. Heaney, PhD, MS ‌— BSPH Title and Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Department of Epidemiology (joint), Department of International Health (joint)

Together, this team worked with SBCLT to execute their project: Community-Engaged Investigation of Coal Dust and Air Pollution Burden in Curtis Bay, Baltimore

The team joined with SBCLT and Curtis Bay residents to deploy innovative sensor technology and statistical methods to provide evidence that elevated air pollution in Curtis Bay is associated with activities at the CSX coal terminal. The findings of these methods have informed our environmental justice strategy to push for stronger regulations and policies that protect the health of South Baltimore.

Our partnership with this award-winning team of public health researchers have resulted in the following papers so far:

Community-driven research and capacity building to address environmental justice concerns with industrial air pollution in Curtis Bay, South Baltimore. Frontiers in Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fepid.2023.1198321.
Use of electron microscopy to determine presence of coal dust in a neighborhood bordering an open-air coal terminal in Curtis Bay, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Science of the Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176842.
Relation of wind direction and coal terminal activity patterns with air pollution burden in a community bordering a coal export terminal, Curtis Bay, Maryland, USA. Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-025-01773-w.
Mobile laboratory measurements of air pollutants in Baltimore, MD elucidate issues of environmental justice. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2024.2393178.

By training citizen scientists and leaning into community-led, community-owned research, we are able to reclaim control of our own narratives and strengthen our fight for environmental justice with evidence-based findings on environmental health outcomes and the cumulative impacts of overlapping environmental stressors. We are grateful to these public health researchers and experts who have mentored and supported us in this process!

MDE’s Permit Fails to Protect Health of Local Community and Environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 21, 2026—Maryland’s latest air pollution permit for the Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill in Baltimore puts people’s health and the environment at risk, according to concerned community and nonprofit partners. This week, South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT), Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Community of Curtis Bay Association, SB7 Coalition, and Clean Water Action submitted comments to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) as the agency considers renewing the landfill’s Title V air pollution permit.

The Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill, operated by the City of Baltimore, has an alarming history of air and water pollution. The landfill is situated among a number of problematic industrial sites that have long concerned local community and environmental groups. Toxic waste and ash from the nearby BRESCO Incinerator are often transported to the landfill through residential neighborhoods including Curtis Bay, Brooklyn, Cherry Hill, Lakeland, Mt. Winans, and Westport.

“I, along with fellow residents and workers, have long expressed concerns about potential exposure to the harmful toxins like lead and dioxins commonly found in incinerator ash disposed of at the Quarantine Road Landfill,” said Carlos Sanchez, Lakeland resident and youth organizer with SBCLT. “We have requested that our concerns be reflected in decisions made by officials. Instead, they are both disparaged and ignored. This is no way to treat fellow human beings. We expect better and will achieve better through being unified and organized in our demand for transparency and accountability.”

Quarantine Road landfill is permitted to hold 21.43 million tons of municipal solid waste. The facility’s Title V permit must ensure all Clean Air Act requirements are met, including managing the facility’s methane and fugitive dust emissions. However, environmental and community partners fear the current permit does not adequately monitor and limit harmful emissions that threaten public health and local air and water quality.

In their comments to MDE, partners cited the following primary concerns with the permit:

A lack of dust controls when handling and disposing of incinerator ash. Roughly 44 percent of the landfill is ash, and its toxic mix is currently unknown. The draft permit also fails to identify the origin of incinerator ash disposed at the facility. That ash can escape during the transportation and handling process and be released as fugitive dust.

A lack of monitoring for PFAS, which can be even more prevalent in air pollution than water pollution.

Inadequate and unclear monitoring requirements. Partners suggest enhancements including fenceline and drone monitoring, which can help regulators easily identify elevated emissions levels and mitigate them as fast as possible.

“People deserve to know what toxic pollution they’re being exposed to,” said CBF’s Environmental Justice Staff Attorney Taylor Lilley. “They also deserve to be kept safe from harmful industries by the agencies in place to protect them. There are still too many questions about what’s in Baltimore’s incinerator ash and how it’s being handled that this permit needs to address.”

There are well-document public health consequences for residents living in this highly industrialized area of Baltimore. Asthma-related hospitalization rates in Curtis Bay and surrounding communities are roughly three times the national average. Deaths from chronic lower respiratory disease are approximately 75 percent higher than in the rest of Baltimore, and overall life expectancy is as much as seventeen years shorter than in Baltimore’s most prosperous neighborhoods.

In May 2024, SBCLT, represented by CBF and the Environmental Integrity Project, filed a Title VI Civil Rights complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency challenging Baltimore’s failure to plan a transition away from the disposal infrastructure that underpins these inequities. EPA accepted the complaint for investigation in July 2024. Additionally, MDE’s Title V air pollution permit for the BRESCO Incinerator is up for renewal later this summer. CBF, SBCLT, and other partners will be monitoring these permits and working to ensure they protect public health, air quality, and the Chesapeake Bay as intended.

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Founded in 1966, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is the largest independent conservation organization dedicated solely to saving the Bay.

South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT) is a community-led organization working to create permanently affordable housing, development without displacement, and zero waste in Baltimore. We believe that people directly impacted by environmental, economic, and racial injustice must be in the lead to create development and transform communities.

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE PDF

A few weeks ago, we shared details about upcoming Title V Major Source Permit renewal hearings for the Quarantine Road Landfill and the BRESCO Incinerator. You can view that blogpost here.

The first of these hearings is taking place this week on Thursday, May 14, and we are calling on community members and allies to show up and speak out at a critical public hearing on the future of the Quarantine Road Landfill (QRL).

6:00PM, Thursday, May 14
Curtis Bay Recreation Center (1630 Filbert St.)

TALKING POINTS & SAMPLE TESTIMONY

Join residents, workers, and advocates in demanding:

Transparency on landfill conditions and violations
Accountability for unsafe practices
Fair pricing and policies that don’t prioritize profit over people
Real protections for community and worker health

Your voice matters—especially now.

For decades, Baltimore City maintained an artificially low landfill “tip fee”—making QRL about half as expensive as surrounding landfills for large commercial haulers to dump in South Baltimore. The result:

A rapidly filling landfill
Chronic underfunding of safe operations
Increased risks to workers and nearby communities
Increased profits for large waste companies

After sustained pressure and a Federal Civil Rights complaint, the City raised the tip fee from $65 to $135 per ton. This change has already cut commercial waste tonnage roughly in half. This was a major step toward dismantling policies that have made South Baltimore a sacrifice zone.

In the process, another major injustice came into focus:

BRESCO incinerator ash—the largest waste stream entering QRL—is still dumped at ~$25 per ton, likely the lowest rate in the country, pointing to ongoing structural problems that continue to prioritize industry over community health. An incredible deal for BRESCO, and a terrible deal for all of us.

Community investigations now point to likely improper disposal of this toxic ash, with practices that may prioritize cost savings over health and safety.

At the same time, state inspections have identified 15+ serious compliance and safety issues, including:

Uncontrolled leachate outbreaks
Contaminated stormwater discharge
Exposed and windblown waste
Improper handling of incinerator ash
Landfill gas and leachate systems not properly operated
Erosion exposing buried waste
Standing water and vector risks
Inadequate cover, compaction, and site stabilization
And broader operational failures tied to understaffing and lack of equipment

Residents have repeatedly asked for transparency and answers on these issues—but have not received them. Requests to independently test the ash material have also been denied by state regulators for nearly a year.

Now, the landfill is primed to receive a new permit in the midst of these unresolved concerns. The bare minimum standard for this hearing: Will the public get clear, direct answers about these risks?

If you can’t make it to Curtis Bay on May 14, here are other ways you can participate in this urgent environmental justice action:

Submit your written testimony before Thursday, May 21, 2026 to Shannon Heafey, MDE Title V Coordinator, by email at sh************@******nd.gov.
Attend at our satellite site at Baltimore Unity Hall (1505 Eutaw Pl., Baltimore, MD 21217). You will have opportunity to testify from the satellite site.
Tune in virtually to the livestream hosted by Maryland Department of the Environment. You will have opportunity to testify when called upon and share your perspective in the meeting chat. RSVP here to instantly receive the meeting link.

The story of SBCLT begins with a group of high school students who fought the construction of what would have become the nation’s largest trash-burning incinerator in their backyards — and won.

Even though that particular incinerator wasn’t built, the neighborhoods the students defended in their fight are still bearing the brunt of Baltimore’s pollution infrastructure today.

Baltimore continues to concentrate major waste and pollution infrastructure in South Baltimore. The Quarantine Road Landfill and BRESCO incinerator—both major contributors to an ongoing federal civil rights complaint filed by South Baltimore residents—are located in South Baltimore. Both entities are up for Title V air permit renewal with the Maryland Department of the Environment this year.

As part of the permit renewal process, the state will be holding public hearings and receiving public comments on what the community (YOU!) think about these renewals. These hearings are key opportunities for community members to demand stronger health and environmental protections.

The Hearings

There are two public hearings scheduled: One for the Quarantine Road Landfill, and the other for the BRESCO Incinerator. Both will be taking place at the Curtis Bay Recreation Center at 1630 Filbert St., Baltimore, MD.

Quarantine Road Landfill permit hearing — Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 6 PM at Curtis Bay Recreation Center
BRESCO Incinerator permit hearing — Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 6 PM at Curtis Bay Recreation Center

Why this Matters

Incinerators in South Baltimore cause $100M/year in health damages statewide (from just 4 pollutants).
The landfill is a major methane source and has a long history of community concerns, including disposal of 100,000’s of potentially toxic incinerator ash per year.
Policy choices matter: As a result of our Title VI Civil Rights complaint, Baltimore officials raised landfill fees for the first time since 1993 (from ~$60 to $135/ton), and waste volumes dropped sharply—showing change is possible – demonstrating that South Baltimore communities are not sacrifice zones or dumping grounds by accident.
Yet incinerator ash is still dumped at extremely low cost (~$25/ton vs. ~$85/ton in nearby Chester, PA), raising serious concerns about safety and oversight of this material known to contain toxicants including Dioxins.

Make Your Voice Count

Let’s pack the hearings with community members who demand stronger health and environmental protections! Please put these hearing dates on your calendar and make plans to come fill the room. We hope you consider speaking about how the presence of these polluting entities affects you and your family. But even if you don’t speak, your presence in the room makes a difference.

Let us know if you plan to attend and if you’d like support preparing comments by RSVP’ing here.

RSVP TO ATTEND A HEARING

If you can’t attend the hearing in person on May 14 or June 11, you can still make your voice heard. You can submit your written comments ahead of time to the Department of Environment, and they will be entered into the public record for the permit renewal. Email your comments to sh************@******nd.gov by the following deadlines:

Written comments on the Quarantine Road Landfill need to be submitted by May 18, 2026
Written comments on the BRESCO Incinerator need to be submitted by June 15, 2026

This photo taken by SBCLT shows incinerator ash being dumped alongside mixed waste at the Quarantine Road Landfill in South Baltimore in 2025. Until stronger protections are put in place, this is the air we breathe.

On Saturday, April 18, 2026, we hosted Harvest of Hope, our first-ever annual fundraiser for the South Baltimore Environmental Justice Center. Because it was our first time doing a fundraiser event, we didn’t know what to expect. We wondered, What precedents would we set? How would our community show up to support SBCLT?

No need to wonder anymore: We were blown away by all the ways YOU showed up to support SBCLT and our mission!

Together, you raised over $18,000 in sponsorships, tickets, donations, raffle tickets, and silent auction bids.

Your energy and momentum inspired one generous anonymous donor and the “I Have a Dream Fund” at St. Vincent de Paul Church to make additional contributions totaling $45,000 toward EJ Center construction.

Harvest of Hope was not only a success because of the funds raised, but also for the connections created.

Our morning together at Unity Hall was a joyful, celebratory time. We reflected on SBCLT’s story and how we RISE, RECLAIM, and REBUILD South Baltimore together.

We began assembling our EJ Center sunflower tile wall, inspired in part by Faith Ringgold’s sunflower story quilt. Each tile represents a community member planting seeds of environmental justice in South Baltimore. Together, the seeds we plant will bloom into a radiant wall.

(For a $100 donation, you, too, can personalize a tile that will become a permanent part of the EJ Center! Make your donation today.)

Harvest of Hope 2026 was a beautiful picture of how community comes together: our volunteers, event sponsors, silent auction donors, and every single person who purchased a ticket or told a friend about the event. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU. We are filled with hope for the future of South Baltimore because of YOU!

Our Event Sponsors

South Baltimore Stewards ($1,000)

South Baltimore Advocates ($500)

Our Silent Auction Donors

Baltimore Center Stage
Baltimore Compost Collective
Black Butterfly Dream Lab
Bmore Urbana
Brooklyn Billies Real Estate Club
Coppermine
Greedy Reads
Hon’s Honey
KSM Candle Co.
Motzi Bread
Niceshot Media
No Land Beyond
Orioles
Patagonia Baltimore
Peabody Heights Brewery
Red Emma’s Coffeehouse & Bookstore
Shae McCoy Photography
Spiral Sojourn Sanctuary
Taylor Smith-Hams
Thread Coffee Roasters

Thank you to every person who submitted testimony, showed up for rallies, emailed your legislators, and talked to your friends and coworkers about the CHERISH Act.

As of this week’s crossover deadline, the CHERISH Act will not move forward in this year’s General Assembly legislative session. Maryland Matters offered detailed reporting on the changes that were made to the CHERISH Act in committee this spring.

The CHERISH Act as we knew it would have protected communities from new polluting facilities being built in already-overburdened areas of Maryland, by requiring companies to meet new permitting standards. However, our lawmakers wanted to grant exemptions… lots of them… to their favorite industries. As result, CHERISH turned into something else entirely in the amendment process.

Here’s how CHERISH was exempted out of existence:

Exemption granted to developers who volunteer to clean up properties already contaminated with hazardous substances, regardless of cleanup status or proximity to residential areas
Exemption granted to permit renewals. Do you already own a polluting facility? No problem! Just keep doing what you’re doing.
Exemption granted to facility expansions. Do you already own a polluting facility? No problem! Now you can make it bigger.
Exemption granted to animal feeding operations. Do you dream of building a factory farm? Here, have a permit!

Once we realized that CHERISH had been exempted out of existence, we knew we could no longer support it. Communities deserve a bill that functions to protect them, and doesn’t prioritize the profits of polluting industries. As a coalition, we walked away from this gutted version of the CHERISH Act so that we can come back next year to fight for the CHERISH that we deserve. Will you join us?

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SBCLT Research Partners Win Public Health Award