A proposed $150 million CSX train cargo transfer facility the state considers vital to Baltimore’s port won’t be built in Elkridge, according to Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, but Gov. Martin O’Malley is resisting calls from residents to remove the community from a list of four possible sites.

“I’ve been very clear to CSX and Maryland Department of Transportation that I will only support a site if it has no impact on existing neighborhoods,” Ulman said this week. “This [Elkridge] site is not going to happen. … I’ve made my concerns abundantly clear to the governor’s office.”

Ulman added that another site in Howard County, north of Montevideo Road in Jessup, “could make some sense.” A third site is on state-owned land next to a state prison in Jessup, and a fourth is in Prince George’s County.

Ulman and others said they support the project’s goals of boosting shipping and rail business at the port of Baltimore as a way to help the area’s economy, but cautioned that it should not interfere with communities.

Despite Ulman’s stance and strong support for the residents from local elected officials, including state Senate Budget and Tax Committee Chairman Edward J. Kasemeyer and County Councilwoman Courtney Watson, O’Malley is backing his transportation officials.

The governor “understands the county’s concerns,” O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said. “We’re going to let the public process play out.”

The residents are right to express their feelings he added, because “they’re taking full advantage of the public process.” Residents remain angry, especially because a CSX affiliate has already bought two small parcels of land in Elkridge at the Hanover Road site.

State transportation officials have said the list of sites could be narrowed to two

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