Air Quality & Emissions¶
Baltimore Emissions Analysis¶
The air quality analysis for the Port of Baltimore examines emissions from at-berth vessel operations — additive to the extreme cumulative industrial burden in Curtis Bay, Brooklyn, and Hawkins Point — and their impact on surrounding communities across South Baltimore and Dundalk.
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Curtis Bay: 94th Percentile
EPA EJScreen ranks Curtis Bay in the 94th percentile for toxic air releases compared with the rest of Maryland. Port vessel emissions are additive to the existing industrial burden from the nation's largest medical waste incinerator, the CSX coal terminal (14 million tons annual capacity), oil and gas tank farms, and a federal Superfund site.
Data Sources¶
| Source | Publisher | Data Provided | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Port Emissions Screening | ICCT | Vessel-level emission estimates by port and operating mode | theicct.org |
| AirNow / AQS | EPA | Real-time and historical PM2.5, PM10, ozone, NO₂ from regulatory monitors | aqs.epa.gov |
| National Emissions Inventory | EPA | Port-area emissions from mobile and stationary sources | epa.gov/air-emissions-inventories |
| Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) | EPA | Facility-level chemical releases — 30+ TRI facilities in Baltimore City | epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program |
| MPA Clean Air Strategy | Maryland Port Administration | Clean Air Strategy and Energy Resiliency Plan framework | mpa.maryland.gov |
Full Assessment Available
The complete analysis for this section — including census-tract-level health quantification, monetized health damages, environmental justice scoring, and scenario modeling — is available through our research services.
See the full methodology in action: Our Duluth-Superior assessment and New York/New Jersey assessment demonstrate the complete analytical depth available for every port on this site.
Contact us to discuss a site-specific assessment for this port community: research@porthealthwatch.org