Page 29 - Port of Baltimore Jan/Feb 2011
Basic HTML Version
PORT REPORT
2010
● ● ●
● ● ●
● ● ●
● ● ●
To subscribe or renew, visit
January/February 2011
■
The Port of Baltimore
[
29
]
AIR EMISSION REDUCTION
´
Air emission reductions can be measured through
improvements that occurred as a result of the Port of
Baltimore’s Clean Diesel Program. Three harbor crafts
were repowers; seven locomotives had start/stop
idle reduction technologies installed; and 42 pieces
of cargo-handling equipment and 26 dray trucks
were repowered, retrofitted or replaced. Preliminary
estimates of annual reduction in fuel and emissions
are as follows: fuel, 12%; carbon dioxide, 12%; nitric
oxides, 31%; particulate matter, 50%.
WATER QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT
´
Spill mitigation and elimination are integral to
improved water quality as are other best management
practices installed in 2010, such as upgrading several
storm water management ponds. Pilot programs also
implemented in 2010 included trash and sediment
collection screens and storm drain filters.
The MPA also sponsors a pollution prevention
committee that includes Port tenants and other Port
users who meet to discuss environmental issues
affecting the marine terminals.
MAINTAINING
OUR CHANNELS
´
Keeping an open channel for ships to access
Maryland’s Port of Baltimore has been an objective
since the 1700s. The MPA’s nationally renowned
dredged material management program works closely
with environmental scientists, communities and
federal and state partners to create forward-thinking
solutions. The award-winning Poplar Island restoration,
a “beneficial use” of dredged material from the
Chesapeake Bay, continues to resuscitate an island
weathered by time and elements.
In 2009, Baltimore County’s Hart-Miller Island, open
to dredged placement since 1984, finished receiving
dredged material. The project created 1,100 acres of
wildlife habitat and recreational land, receiving about
100 million cubic yards of dredged material from the
Baltimore Harbor and Chesapeake Bay channels.
With Hart-Miller Island’s closing, Masonville in 2010
joined Cox Creek as the only containment sites for
dredged material from Baltimore Harbor. For the
next 20 years, Masonville will provide capacity for 15
million cubic yards of sediment and, when finished, be
home to a future marine terminal.
The Masonville site is located on the Patapsco River
near the communities of Brooklyn and Curtis Bay. The
project includes a set of community enhancements
developed and planned by local citizens and
community groups.
The centerpiece of these enhancements is the
Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center.
Built using the latest green standards, this facility
provides children with a place to learn about the
local environmental habitat. The land adjacent to the
Education Center is also being repurposed for hiker/
biker trails, an observation tower and water access for
local citizens.
The Port of Baltimore, coupling the MPA’s award-
winning dredging program with impressive strides
made to improve environmental conditions at the
public marine terminals, will continue to reduce
its carbon footprint and maintain its role as an
environmental steward.
COURTESY OF MPA
