A new satellite could help clean up the air in America's most polluted neighborhoods

Piles of coal sit at a coal export terminal in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore, Md. The area is one of the most polluted in the state and is one of hundreds of communities in the U.S. that grapple with disproportionate air pollution. (Ryan Kellman/NPR)

David Jones dusts his house in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore almost daily. He rarely opens his windows, even when the weather is beautiful, because the outdoor air makes him feel sick.

Immediately across the street is the Curtis Bay coal terminal, where heaps of coal taller than Jones' house are piled up for overseas shipment. Dust from the coal mounds enters people's cars, homes — and lungs.