EPA Agrees to Probe Baltimore Incinerator on Civil Rights Claims

The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to pick up a civil rights investigation of Baltimore’s waste management plans, which residents say exposes already disadvantaged communities to pollution from one of the state’s largest trash incinerators.

Advocates from South Baltimore filed their civil rights complaint in May, claiming that the city’s 10-year solid waste management plan doesn’t go far enough to completely phase out the Baltimore Refuse Energy Systems Company (BRESCO) incinerator—formerly called the Wheelabrator.

The EPA’s acceptance of the complaint is the first step of many towards a complete investigation, but advocates at the helm of the complaint hailed ...