Lothian is a rural community in south Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and has long been inundated with industrial and municipal pollution sources. There are 33 industrial sites in the Lothian community, 22 of which are located within five miles of each other, and by CLA’s accounting, there are at least ten water pollution sources along Sands Road, including five mobile home park wastewater treatment plants, two closed solid waste landfills, and no less than three sand and gravel mining operations. This area has been termed a “sacrifice zone,” and refers to populated areas—often low–income people of color—with high levels of pollution, noise, and environmental hazards. Exposure to these pollutants and nuisances has degraded the quality of life of the community of Lothian.
CLA first became involved in Lothian–area issues in 2020, when members of the community, as well as the Patuxent Riverkeeper, reached out for assistance. After conducting some preliminary research, CLA attorneys discovered a cluster of operations in noncompliance with their state water pollution permits, directly linked to truck traffic and noise that plagued the community. To address these issues, CLA implemented a cumulative wholesale strategy to investigate and address the local zoning and land use controls (or lack of), as well as the state pollution permits that were in place. CLA reported those facilities determined to be in significant noncompliance with their permits to federal and state enforcement agencies, and met with state and federal regulators to bring these issues to light. CLA referred four noncompliant mobile wastewater treatment plants with common corporate ownership to the EPA for enforcement, and EPA is currently investigating and undertaking enforcement activities against these operations. We also uncovered significant issues associated with certain zoning practices in the County related to “special exceptions and conditional variances” and brought suit challenging the validity of one special exception granted in 1967 that had never been reviewed or updated by the County and no longer meets the basic requirements of a special exception that would be granted in 2022.
With the help of a CLA pro bono network attorney, CLA was successful in this challenge at the Office of Administrative Hearings, where the Hearing Officer ruled that the mining operation in question was not complying with the terms of its over 40-year-old special zoning exception, ordering all operations on the property to cease immediately. Despite being overturned by the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals, the original challenge is one of the only times a special exception has been successfully challenged in the County. CLA will continue to monitor and track the compliance of industrial operations in the Lothian community and use the power of the law to reduce pollution and enhance the quality of life for those living on and around Sands Road.
Everyone deserves to live in a healthy and clean environment. This principle guides CLA’s work in numerous areas, including that in Lothian and Harwood, Maryland, and more specifically, our work with the community that lives on and around Sands Road. This rural community in south Anne Arundel County is inundated with industrial and municipal pollution sources. By CLA’s accounting, there are at least ten water pollution sources in the Sands Road area. This includes five mobile home park wastewater treatment plants, two closed solid waste landfills, and at least three sand and gravel mining operations. CLA first became involved when community members of Lothian and the Patuxent Riverkeeper reached out for assistance dealing with issues of excessive truck traffic, noise, and related concerns in their community. When researching these issues, CLA staff attorneys discovered a cluster of operations in noncompliance with their state water pollution permits, which was directly linked to the truck traffic and noise plaguing the community. By CLA’s clients’ accounts, this has been a near-constant problem for over 30 years.
To address these issues, CLA implemented a cumulative wholesale strategy to investigate both the local zoning and land use controls, as well as the state pollution permits in place that would allow such a degradation of the quality of life of the community and environment. In this investigation, we collaborated with the Patuxent Riverkeeper, and community members on the ground to investigate and implement a plan to increase the quality of life of the community. This included addressing permit non-compliance and a lack of zoning protections for the community, as well as the enforcement of zoning codes. Through our investigation, we discovered a cluster of water pollution permit noncompliance generally only seen in Maryland’s urban and industrial areas. And although we informed the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) in June of 2020 and asked for a follow-up response and action, we never received a formal response. We also notified the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the significant non-compliance at the wastewater treatment plants for four mobile home parks in Lothian and Harwood, all with the same corporate parent company. This resulted in the EPA taking the first steps towards enforcement by requesting specific information from the polluters; however, to date, and to the best of our knowledge, no further action has been taken. We brought these issues to the respective enforcement agencies with support from CLA’s research and summaries of noncompliance. We have continued to monitor and track the compliance of these operations as we plan our next steps. On the zoning side, we reviewed numerous special exceptions for various industrial operations in this rural community. We also have met with county officials and leadership on numerous occasions to inform them of the industry’s impact on the community and the environment.
Progress has been incremental over the past two years. We have reviewed and commented on water pollution permit renewals, resulting in new permits with updates to the language to make them more protective of the community and the environment. We have provided state and federal regulators with information, research, and other support to commence enforcement against polluters in the community. On the zoning side, we have brought to light significant issues associated with county zoning practices and decisions. These are related to special exceptions and conditional variances and their negative impacts on the community. Our advocacy and constant pressure on the Anne Arundel County Government resulted in the County taking enforcement actions against bad actors on Sands Road for noncompliance with the special exception permits that allow these industrial sites to operate within the rural community. Additionally, with CLA staff assistance, a CLA pro bono attorney has commenced an action before the Anne Arundel County [Zoning Hearing Examiner] challenging the validity of a special exception granted in 1967 that has never been reviewed or updated by the County since. This special exception no longer meets the basic requirements of a special exception that would be granted in 2022 and is not protective of the rural community or the environment.
This work is important because it brings to light decades-old zoning decisions and practices that are no longer protective of the community and the environment, and because it puts polluters and regulators on notice that the communities around Sands Road will no longer be a sacrifice zone where industry, that is unwanted in other parts of the county or state, can operate with limited oversight and in noncompliance for years. It is important because no one deserves to live like this, inundated with noncompliant pollution sources, where special exceptions last forever, and county and state regulators neglect their duties to protect the community and the environment
We need $300 to continue our research and advocacy, which helps educate regulators about this type of lax enforcement and its impacts on the community and environment. Specifically, this money will contribute toward obtaining and copying vital public documents and information crucial to our efforts and will help CLA and our clients obtain assistance from technical and scientific experts.
CLA continues its work in the Lothian and Harwood communities along Sands Road in Anne Arundel County. This rural residential area is inundated with industrial pollution sources that cause direct releases of pollution to the air and water but also create other problems such as excessive heavy truck traffic, extreme noise, and impacts on the well-being of the community. These are issues the community has been dealing with for over 30 years.
Since our last update in August 2022, a CLA Volunteer Attorney with assistance from CLA Staff Attorney, Patrick DeArmey, won a decision before the Anne Arundel County Zoning Administrative Hearing Officer (“AHO”). The AHO ruled that a mining operation on Sands Road was not complying with the terms of its over 40-year-old Special Zoning Exception and rescinded the Special Exception and ordered all operations on the property to cease immediately. As far as CLA is aware, this is one of the only times a Special Exception has been successfully challenged in Anne Arundel County.
On the wastewater pollution side of the issues in Lothian, Patrick DeArmey, in collaboration with a law professor and student at American University Law school, submitted a Clean Water Act enforcement referral letter to EPA and MDE requesting specific enforcement actions against a company that manages four mobile home parks in Lothian that all have recent and ongoing noncompliance with their wastewater pollution permits. CLA and clients are set to meet with EPA and MDE in early 2023 to advocate for tougher enforcement against these non-compliant pollution sources. CLA will continue our efforts to reduce pollution and enhance the quality of life for this living on and around Sands Road.
By: Patrick DeArmey
Westport Reclamation Services (“site” or “Westport”) is one of several industrial mining operations on Sands Road in Lothian, Maryland, a rural area inundated with industrial pollution sources. The effect of these operations and the pollution produced is oppressive and ever-present within the community and to anyone who drives or bikes down Sands Road hoping for a pleasant outing along a country road. The reality of life on Sands Road is a barrage of noise, dust, constant heavy-truck traffic, air, and water pollution, and in general, a degraded quality of life.
One of the main causes of these impacts is the several sand and gravel mining operations, like Westport, on Sands Road. These operations encompass hundreds of acres of disturbed land within the rural agricultural community along Sands Road. The impacts associated with these operations are wide-reaching and include, air and water pollution, noise, dust, and constant truck traffic. These operations along with at least four wastewater treatment plants and two closed solid waste landfills have led our clients, the Patuxent Riverkeeper and members of the Lothian community to call Sands Road a “sacrifice zone,” where governments of all levels have decided to site and permit various objectionable and harmful land uses with minimal concern for how these land uses harm the public and the environment. CLA has been helping our clients address these issues for years and has provided constant pressure and advocacy to county, state, and federal governments to recognize how zoning and permitting decisions have led to this sacrifice zone of negative impacts on the environment and the quality of life of those who live on Sands Road.
Our latest efforts have been focused on Westport Reclamation, this type of intensive and industrial land use is not allowed in Lothian or along Sands Road because this area is zoned as Rural Agricultural, which is “generally intended to preserve agricultural lands and provide for very low-density rural single-family detached residential development”. Westport and the other surface mining operations only exist along Sands Road because they were granted special zoning exceptions at various times in the past by Anne Arundel County.
Westport was granted its special exception in 1967 and it has never been updated. This means that Westport’s operations are governed by a Special Exception that is 56 years old. There have been numerous changes within the County since this special exception was granted, for example, Anne Arundel County’s zoning code regarding special exceptions has been updated multiple times to be more protective than the code in 1967, the State has developed comprehensive laws, regulations, and permitting of extractive land uses like the surface mining operations along Sands Road, the state created and passed the Maryland Critical Area law, and we have collectively realized that many objectionable land uses have been historically and currently permitted in areas where the underserved communities receive a disproportionate amount of pollution and the impacted community has limited resources and means to object to such operations.
When Westport was granted its Special Exception 56 years ago it was for a commercial sand and gravel excavation operation on the property and it was conditioned that “there shall be no harm to the public welfare from the standpoints of safety or devaluation of surrounding properties.” CLA’s investigation determined that Westports operation is blatantly not complying with this 56-year-old condition.
Over the past few years of our investigation into Westport, we discovered many instances of harm to public welfare stemming from this operation. These harms include the following: operating without a state-issued stormwater pollution control permit for stormwater associated with surface mining operations; sedimented runoff from the site entering adjacent wetlands within the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area; operation of a rock crusher; dumping, processing, and resale of construction debris; a contractor’s yard; storage of unregistered vehicles; and recently it was discovered that that black liquid/sludge is being dumped onsite. Many of these activities on the site are not permitted or authorized by the County.
To address these concerns CLA staff attorneys, with assistance from CLA volunteer pro bono attorney Ryan Kennedy, pursued legal recourse on behalf of our clients. In the fall of 2022, we filed a show cause order/motion before the Anne Arundel County Administrative Hearing Officer (AHO) and requested that at a minimum the AHO order that Westport must reapply for a special exception and make demonstrations to the County that their operation is compliant with the current zoning code. After oral arguments, the AHO ultimately ruled in our client’s favor stating that “the special exception and variance granted in Case No. V67-67 and S68-67 are hereby Rescinded. All commercial operations involving sand and gravel excavation and a concrete batching plant at the Belle Grove property shall cease immediately.” To the best of CLA’s knowledge, this was a first-of-its-kind victory in Anne Arundel County and it would not have been possible without Ryan Kennedy, a CLA volunteer pro bono attorney.
The saga is not over, predictably the operation has appealed the AHO’s decision to the Anne Arundel Appeals Board where arguments will be heard over two days in March and April 2023. Our coalition is currently preparing for the upcoming hearings. We will not stop this fight until the quality of life of those on Sands road improves and the environment is better protected.
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