The South Baltimore neighborhoods of Curtis Bay, Brooklyn and Hawkins Point (referred to in this report as the Baybrook Area or Baybrook) have a long history as the focal point of industrialization in Baltimore City. This includes two events in which residents were relocated from the most industrial part of this area because of health concerns. The Baybrook community presently has high mortality (death) rates from heart disease, chronic lower respiratory disease and lung cancer, which are diseases that have been associated with air pollution exposure. Furthermore, 2010 census statistics show approximately 20% of families living below the poverty line in Baybrook, raising environmental justice concerns.
The Environmental Integrity Project issues this report in order to provide more information to the community and to decision-makers about air pollution and health in Baybrook. However, there is still a great deal of information that is not known, particularly about the cumulative impacts on residents’ health of the multiple source of pollution to which they are exposed.
In conducting the research for this report, we reviewed air quality information from a number of different sources, including data recorded by ambient (outside) air monitors and models and databases developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
