WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation is asking the Surface Transportation Board to block parts of the state of Maryland’s new operating permit for the railroad’s Curtis Bay coal terminal in Baltimore, saying they constitute an impermissible attempt for the state to regulate rail transportation.
The railroad, in a Nov. 19 filing, is asking the board for a declaratory order finding those conditions are preempted by the ICC Termination Act, which establishes regulation of the rail industry as a federal matter.
CSX’s primary concern is a requirement that it build a windscreen surrounding the terminal, a rail-to-ship transload facility, to control coal dust. The state permit would require these windscreens to be taller than the maximum height of the coal piles at the facility, which the railroad says would require screens more than 100 feet tall.
The railroad says these windscreens would require “significant modifications to the terminal to accommodate the operational constraints and safety hazards introduced by the barrier(s),” lead to a substantial decrease in rail activity during construction of the barriers; reduce the among of coal that could be stored at the terminal; and require significant modifications to the facility. The requirements are greater than those in place at any similar facility in the state, the railroad contends.
The Maryland Department of the Environment “thus seeks to directly regulate CSXT’s activities, including the design, construction, operation and maintenance of coal transloading facility at Curtis Bay Piers,” the railroad says in its filing. “In issuing the permit, the state openly boasted that MDE is ‘holding CSX to a higher standard,’ an explicitly discriminatory, and thus preempted, act.”
The railroad says construction of windscreens could shut down the Curtis Bay facility for months and require coal trains to be held elsewhere until their cargo could be directly loaded into ships. The new barriers would “require permanently and significantly limiting the size of the coal piles. This will impact and interfere with operations by limiting CSXT’s ability to serve customers.”
The Maryland Department of the Environment issued the new permit in July after a process that saw increased public opposition to the facility following a 2021 explosion [see “Explosion damages CSX coal facility …,” Trains.com, Dec. 30, 2021]. When the new permit was issued, state Environmental Secretary Serena McIlwain said in a statement, “This is the most protective permit ever issued for this site, reflecting our commitment to environmental justice.”
The 13-acre Curtis Bay Coal Docks have operated at the same location for more than 100 years, CSX says. Residents opposed to the facility have expressed concerns over coal dust and other pollutants, and urged the MDE to reject renewal of the CSX permit, WJC-TV reports. The MDE said it does not have the ability to shut down the facility but can enforce operational restrictions.
