Residents of south Baltimore are filing a civil rights complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency over the Wheelabrator Incinerator, stating that the city is regening on its plans to phase out the plant to the detriment of the health of communities of color.

The complaint does not have any punitive consequences, but will notify policymakers when the city applies for federal grants. In this instance, the Department of Public Works could see issues with funding.

The Title VI complaint alleges discrimination from a government program or body.

“We need our government to work with us, we need our government to make the same commitment that residents are making to move past these outdated systems and to new systems that are not harmful like these incinerators,” said Shashawnda Campbell, the environmental justice director at the South Baltimore Community Land Trust, one of the organizations filing the complaint.

Wheelabrator Incinerator causes $55 million in health problems a year for the people living around the area, according to a 2017 study from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

In 2022, WIN Waste, which owns the incinerator, began upgrading its emissions technology as a result of a Baltimore Clean Air Act lawsuit. The facilities’ permit expires in 2027.

Baltimore disposes of most of its solid waste at the plant through a contract with the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, which expires in 2031.

In 2021, the WIN Waste handled 700,200 tons of waste.

Campbell said south Baltimore residents worked with the city to come up with a plan to phase out the incinerator.

However, when the city’s 2024 Solid Waste Management Plan came out in February, the plan did not mention the phase out.

“Trash incinerators and landfills produce unacceptable levels of toxic and climate-harming pollution and they are often sited in marginalized communities,” said Leah Kelly, a senior attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. “We cannot continue relying on these facilities as our primary waste disposal options, as Baltimore City has in this plan. We must plan a transition to better alternatives; that is part of what South Baltimore residents are seeking in this complaint.”

Residents in the area are pushing for composting and other forms of waste management.