BALTIMORE, MD – The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has fundamentally violated its sacred duty to protect the public. The audit here released regarding MDE’s performance reveals a horrific, systemic collapse of regulatory oversight that directly threatens human life, maternal health, and the future of our youth. Young, Gifted, and Green was born out of the fight against lead poisoning and is dedicated to dismantling environmental racism. For those we represent, this audit reads as a terrifying indictment of state-sponsored negligence. 

When environmental enforcement fails, it is Black, Brown, and low-income neighborhoods that bear the physical and generational scars while negligent landlords and corporate polluters pocket the profits. History shows us that state agencies routinely overlook violations in Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities that would never be tolerated in wealthier, whiter zip codes. MDE’s absolute failure to manage its most critical public safety programs is not an accident, as it is structural environmental racism in action. Leaving these programs improperly monitored is an act of environmental violence that treats our neighborhoods as sacrifice zones and our children’s health as collateral damage.

Here is the breakdown of the deeply disturbing failures uncovered in the report: 

• Gross Negligence in Lead Inspections & Child Protection: MDE allowed independent, property-owner-hired inspectors to issue “lead-free” certificates unchecked, with severely lacking documented verification. Worse, when MDE finally suspended crooked inspectors for falsifying records, they initially left families in the dark. This type of egregious occurrence warranted immediate intervention; however, MDE failed to timely notify property owners and tenants, moved way too slowly to force re-inspections, and moved at a snail’s pace to ensure that children trapped in these toxic homes received urgent lead blood-level testing. By abandoning its automated oversight of rental registries, MDE essentially gave landlords a free pass to expose children to life-altering neurotoxins.
• Unmonitored Poisoning of Our Water: MDE routinely failed to review and approve wastewater discharge permits on time and skipped mandatory facility inspections. Our water systems, the sheer lifelines of our communities, have been left vulnerable to unmonitored pollution and industrial contamination. No amount of time without this required safeguards is acceptable.
• 1,311 Uninspected Radiation Machines: MDE failed to inspect 1,311 radiation machines within required timelines. This backlog puts healthcare workers, patients, and local communities at unmitigated risk of invisible, hazardous exposure.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility Mandating Accountability: While failing to protect human health, MDE also failed to manage its own books, neglecting to keep accurate accounts receivable records or timely pursue outstanding financial collections.

LaTricea Adams, Founder, CEO, and President of Young, Gifted, and Green, issued the following statement: “This audit confirms what frontline families have lived for far too long, and Young, Gifted & Green is calling on the Maryland Department of the Environment to…”This audit confirms what frontline families have lived for far too long, and Young, Gifted & Green is calling on the Maryland Department of the Environment to act with urgency, be transparent with the communities most affected, and invest in real solutions, because our children cannot wait.”

Our Demands for Immediate Action:

1. Develop a Public & Community-Informed Corrective Action Plan: This crisis was not a simple administrative oversight, but a systemic failure. MDE must host community briefings (that are considerate of accessibility) to not only inform, but to listen to recommendations and feedback from the impacted community ways to improve their overall governance, oversight and accountability. A progress report (scorecard) co-created with community should be established to provide timely and transparent data to the public.
2. Emergency Tenant Notification & Testing Hubs: MDE must immediately identify every property touched by suspended inspectors, notify the residents, fund mandatory independent re-inspections, and set up state-funded lead testing clinics for every child affected.
3. Total Overhaul of the Lead Registry System: Transition the rental unit tracking from a failed automated system to an aggressively audited, transparent public ledger.
4. Immediate Clearing of Inspection Backlogs: MDE must immediately reallocate emergency personnel to clear the backlogs for wastewater discharge permits and the 1,311 uninspected radiation machines.

Young, Gifted, and Green will not stand by while state agencies allow corporate polluters and negligent landlords to turn our communities into sacrifice zones. We are calling on our fellow EJ warriors, allies, grassroots partners, and every Marylander to join us in demanding an oversight hearing from the Maryland General Assembly in 2027. As an actionable step, we are working on scheduling community debriefs and creating space for residents to provide feedback/recommendations/demands to MDE. Stay tuned for updates, follow YGG, or sign up for our newsletter to receive more information.

The environment inside the home and the community determines our future. We will fight until every child breathes clean air, drinks safe water, and lives in a #LeadFreeUSA.