Controversy swirls over plan to expand Tradepoint harbor

First published Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024 in the Dundalk Eagle.

Tradepoint Atlantic wants to expand so cargo ships can dock and unload there, not just at the Port of Baltimore. It has already found a business partner in the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the largest shipping company in the world, according to a Baltimore County press release.

The only problem: To expand, it needs to dig up the sediment at the bottom of its harbor in a process known as dredging to reach the required 50 feet in depth. And that sediment could be toxic, residents fear. The company proposes to deposit the dredge on Hart-Miller Island, a state park off the shore of North Point State Park.

That’s caused controversy. Why not store the potentially toxic dredge on site, community members wonder. Why does it need to be stored in the environmentally sensitive Hart-Miller Island?

Until the 1980s, a chain of three rapidly eroding islands were located near the mouth of Middle River. Baltimore port partners proposed dumping the dredged soil from the city’s shipping channels by the islands to restore the two larger islands, Hart and Miller, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The two were eventually connected to form one larger island, Hart-Miller Island. The state continued to deposit dredge there until 2009, when the legislature shut the island down.

Residents, mostly residents of various affected neighborhood associations, politicians and steering committee members Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski appointed met Wednesday evening at Sparrows Point High School for the first time to discuss the plan.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said he and other administrators were at the meeting not to talk, but to listen.

And listen they did. The first half of the meeting was quiet and agreeable — until Linwood Jackson spoke.

“You’ve gotta get the people behind this,“ he warned, pointing out how few people attended the meeting.

“Does this look like interest?” he asked into the echoey, mostly empty auditorium with about 40 attendees. The auditorium can hold up to 1,202 people, according to a framed certificate from the fire marshal on the wall. “We’ve got to bring these meetings to the community.”

And then more concerns bubbled to the surface. Joe Corcoran, president of the Baltimore Bird Club, asked what’s being done to make sure the rare bird species that reside on the island are not harmed. Ken Murray asked why only one person on the steering committee lived in the east side of Baltimore County.

“With all due respect, sir, I grew up in North Point Village, lived in Edgemere for a couple of years,” Paul Brylske, the chair of the Hart-Miller Island Citizens Oversight Committee and steering committee member, shot back. “I represent one community, though, and that’s the community of Hart-Miller Island. I’ve been and I will come to your organization and any other organization that wants me to come visit.”

Russell S. Donnelly, a volunteer with environmental organization South East Communities Against Pollution, said the dredged soil could be incredibly toxic. Keith Taylor, president of the Sparrows Point Historical Society, said the “muck” should be contained on Tradepoint’s property, not on the “flourishing” Hart-Miller Island.

As residents got up to make speeches increasingly critical of the plan, Olszewski could be seen quietly talking with his deputy administrative officer, Sameer Sidh.

Doug Celmer of the Back River Neck Peninsula Community Association cautioned that the process was moving too fast.

“I think you need to take a deep breath and slow down a bit,” he said.

Legislation passed by the state legislature in May and signed by Gov. Wes Moore requires Tradepoint to negotiate an agreement with affected communities, known as a community benefit agreement, have the Baltimore County government approve it and have the Maryland Department of the Environment sign off on the agreement by Dec. 31 of this year if it wants to deposit the material on Hart-Miller Island.

If no agreement is reached by then, “the window to negotiate closes,” Sidh said.

Olszewski and Baltimore County Councilmember Todd Crandell took pains to remind the crowd that nothing has been decided yet. Peter Haid, Tradepoint’s senior vice president of environmental, said the plan to put the dredged material on the island was only one of three options the company is considering. It also is considering depositing the dredged material off Cove Point and a combination of different options, he said, though the Hart-Miller Island plan seems the most likely.

“Frankly, it appears to be a win-win option for many reasons, which we’ve discussed already,” he told the crowd.

Crandell encouraged residents to view the project with an “open mind” and think about how to use the money Tradepoint would pay the community.

“It’s a generational opportunity,” he said, “if we can make it work.”