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The 2,300-acre Sparrows Point steelmaking plant has long been a significant part of Baltimore’s history, and it is perhaps the most complex environmental cleanup site in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. MDE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have worked for more than 13 years with the various Sparrows Point owners to meet the requirements of a 1997 Consent Decree to assess and clean up more than 100 years of heavy industrial pollution. The Consent Decree requires site-wide investigation, assessment, cleanup of areas of soil and groundwater contamination and the prevention of contaminated water from migrating into surface waters.
While the Sparrows Point Consent Decree’s original focus was assessing the extent of the contamination, MDE has pressed the current Plant’s owner to move forward on the much-needed transition to the cleanup work.
As required by the Consent Decree, many reports have been completed to assess potential sources of contamination; study site-wide soil and groundwater conditions; document results of waste minimization and recycling projects; reduce kish; complete the Greys landfill stabilization project; and assess human health and ecological risk. The groundwater cleanup system at the Rod & Wire Mill Sludge Bin Remediation Area continues to operate, removing cadmium and zinc.
Getting to the cleanup stage at Sparrows Point has been difficult. This is, in part, attributable to the complex nature of the site and has been further complicated by ownership changing hands four times in three years. Slowing things down further was a bankruptcy ruling, followed by a 2007 U.S. Department of Justice order requiring the then-owner to sell the facility that resulted in uncertainty about the future ownership until the plant was purchased by Severstal in May 2008. Since that time, MDE prioritized two issues: increasing the availability of information for the community about activities at the site and making the shift from assessment to cleanup.
Recent MDE actions have resulted in:
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Two community leadership meetings on October 22, 2009, and January 28, 2010, to update leaders of community associations, business organizations, and elected officials and answer questions.
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Approval on August 24, 2009, for pilot testing for technologies to mitigate contaminated groundwater from the area around the former coke oven.
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Severstal’s creation of a website to provide information to the public on current events and work completed for the Consent Decree.
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Approval on March 2, 2010, to install within 120 days an in-situ groundwater treatment system to address benzene contamination in the area around the former coke oven.
Severstal has also taken responsibility for cleaning up Coke Point by submitting a plan to reclaim iron and steel scattered along the shore for recycling. This plan is currently being reviewed by U.S Army Corps of Engineers as part of the permitting process.
During the next phase, MDE will push Severstal to complete the off-site sampling required to complete the site-wide assessment; continue to implement items required under the compliance plan for both Greys and Coke Point landfills; and implement the required plan to grade and stabilize the slope around the Coke Point Landfill to prevent sediment from entering the surrounding Bear Creek and Patapsco River.
MDE’s updated website includes information on the cleanup, including the Consent Decree and correspondence between MDE, EPA, and Severstal.
MDE and EPA are planning a joint public meeting on Sparrows Point, to be held in late Spring. Information will be posted at the MDE website and provided to local media.
MDE will continue to ensure that public health is protected and that there are no immediate threats to citizens from the site conditions at Sparrows Point. MDE will continue to press Severstal to take steps to complete the final site assessment process at Sparrows Point, according to the timeline agreed to in the Consent Decree, and submit the final Corrective Measure Study. This study will provide the final cleanup remedies selected to address the entire site, and upon its approval, MDE and EPA will continue to monitor the cleanup activities until the cleanup goals are accomplished.
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