Race Street
The Race Street site is located in an industrial area of Baltimore on the banks of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River. The site was an agricultural chemical production facility from the early 1900s to 1976. Allied chemical, a predecessor company to Honeywell, operated the plant on the site from 1930 to 1976. The plant was closed and demolished, and a multi-layer cap was installed across the former plant and waste areas of the site. Under MDE supervision, a multi-layered engineered cap was placed across the site.
Today, Baltimore City owns the 10.3-acre Race Street site. An elevated portion of Interstate 95 highway is located above and over approximately half of the Site. The property is secured by a perimeter fence and has a clay and asphalt cap that limits the infiltration of surface water.
On May 23, 2007, the Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved a Consent Order with the City, Honeywell and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). The Consent Order demonstrates the continued progress in the remediation of the Race Street site. It outlines a partnership with government regulators that will result in the cleanup of the site, and includes timelines that obligate Honeywell and the City, working under the jurisdiction of the MDE, to continue to maintain the site, provide security and monitoring, and develop and implement a final remediation plan.
After completing all investigations, in 2018, Honeywell and Baltimore City submitted to MDE several key documents including: (a) an Interim Remedy Determination; (b) Corrective Measures and Alternatives Analysis (CMAA); and (c) Post-Closure Controlled Hazardous Substance (CHS) permit application. The above documents respectively conclude that no interim remedial measures are required for the site, propose an enhanced cap as the preferred final remedy, and initiate the process for obtaining a CHS permit.
MDE is in the process of evaluating the above documents. On October 11, 2018, MDE held a public information meeting for the Post-Closure CHS permit application and the CMAA submissions. MDE has been reviewing and provided comments on the CMAA and CHS documents, which Honeywell and Baltimore City have addressed and integrated into updated documents. MDE has indicated that it expects to complete its review soon, which will then enable the documents to be finalized, a Public Notice to be issued for the Post-Closure Permit and CMAA, and public hearing to be scheduled on a CMAA Tentative Determination. Implementation of the selected remedy will be performed once the public participation has been completed and MDE issues the CHS permit application.
