Frank Mulligan|Standard-Times
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NEW BEDFORD – Protesters took to the City Hall steps Thursday to denounce a recent host agreement between the city and recycler Parallel Products, which is expanding in the New Bedford Business Park.
The agreement was announcedby Mayor Jon Mitchell two weeks ago and described as a victory because Parallel Products had agreed not to accept “biosolids,” which is sewage sludge, to be processed at the plant for fertilizer as part of its expansion — and because truck traffic had been prohibited from using residential Phillips Road.
The company currently processes glass, plastics and cans for recycling, but is expanding its glass operations andadding the processing of municipal solid waste.
Representatives of South Coast Neighbors United and Citizens Against the Parallel Products Project, which jointly organized Thursday’s protest,say the host agreement was no victory.
They say despite having been involved in fighting the proposed expansion at the 100 Duchaine Blvd. site for three years, they were not consulted on the current agreement. They also claim the agreement language is ambiguous and seemingly non-binding on the biosolids and traffic issues if there were new project filings in the future, and that pollution, health and property-value concerns remain.
The agreement between the city and Parallel Products affiliates South Coast Renewables and SMRE 100, LLC, states that the expansion of the recyclables processing facility at 100 Duchaine Boulevard will “not apply for or maintain any approvals that authorize the acceptance, management, transload or processing of biosolids at the facility or site in any form.”
Wendy Morrill, president of South Coast Neighbors United, said, “It’s really frustrating that the people who this will impact the most are not the ones consulted with things unless they assert themselves.”
She said, “The city hasn’t reached out to us,” adding they first heard about the agreement through the press release two weeks ago.
Tracy Wallace, vice president of South Coast Neighbors United, said, “Those lines of communication were there. They had been established in 2019 and 2020, and no one reached out to us.”
Morrill said, “And we’re already seeing discrepancies between the agreement and what the company filed in the supplemental report. There are things that don’t align with each other.”
A supplemental report close to 1,000 pages in length has been submitted as part of the state environmental permitting process, as well as a notice of a change to the plans. The community has 30 days to comment on the submittal, but area state representatives Paul Schmid, Chris Markey and Chris Hendricks have requested an additional 30 days for people to review the documents at the citizens’ groups request.
Schmid has been supportive of the agreement since it keeps biosolids away from the facility.
He said in an interview following the agreement’s release, “We recognize that for most of the folks living around Parallel Products, their home is their primary asset and they were very concerned about a sludge plant being put in next to them — that it would affect their home values. So we are delighted that this agreement means that there will not be a sludge plant.”
But 20 or so members of South Coast Neighbors United and Citizens Against the Parallel Products Project still took to the steps to demonstrate their displeasure. The mayor was singled out, with some signs stating, “The mayor sold us out.”
Along with the state permitting process, the plans still require local Board of Health sanction, said Morrill. She said the groups would be compiling resident complaints and concerns to bring to the board’s attention.
More: 'A uniquely positive outcome': New Bedford reaches no-sludge deal with Parallel Products
Other parts of the host agreement that were lauded in the release two weeks ago included:
- $30 million investment that will create 75 new jobs;
- More than $200,000 in new annual tax revenue;
- Additional annual fees paid to the city estimated to exceed $800,000 in the first year at $2 per ton of waste processed, half of which will be deposited in a dedicated fund for neighborhood improvements;
- Most favored pricing clause that ensures prices for the city, should the city seek to retain Parallel Products’ services, would be no higher than the lowest prices to a comparable customer.
But Morrill said the fees to the city would be counterproductive to the host agreement’s aim of curtailing truck traffic since the city would be profiting from any increased tonnage.
She added, “We’ve already passed our peak in what we can tolerate as far as pollution and contamination in our community. Several areas of New Bedford have been designated as Environmental Justice Communities. That alone should be a threshold to say enough, no more.”
Under state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs guidelines, Environmental Justice populations have been “determined to be most at risk of being unaware of or unable to participate in environmental decision-making or to gain access to state environmental resources, or are especially vulnerable.”
