LAND COURT JUDGE Robert Foster ordered the scrap metal export business at Brayton Point in Somerset to shut down largely because of what he heard and saw on a visit to the homes of three women – Nicole McDonald, Kathy Souza, and Nancy Thomas.
In his decision, Foster described his visit to the neighborhood across from Brayton Point known as “The View.” The case focused largely on legal and scientific arguments about the merits of town bylaws and the size of a particle of dust, but in the end what proved decisive for Foster was his tour of the scrap metal business and his personal inspection of the three homes. He became convinced dust was leaving the scrap metal operation and causing harm to the women and their neighbors.
On The Codcast, McDonald said dust is everywhere in her neighborhood. “It covers our homes. It covers our windows. You can taste it when you walk, depending on which way the wind is blowing. It irritates your eyes, the back of your throat. And we know that it’s metal dust. It’s hazardous, caustic metal dust,” she said. “It has really been a nightmare experience for the residents.”
Souza said no one paid attention to them initially. “It started off as, ‘well, they’re just complaining.’ Then it progressed to ‘wait a minute, there might be some environmental concerns here,’ to ‘this is really affecting everybody’s health and well-being,’” she said.
Thomas said she has been living with the dust for nearly three years, but she takes some positives from the experience. “That is the mobilization of this small residential neighborhood to fight big business to do what’s right,” she said. “For someone who has lived in this neighborhood over 50 years, I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished. Not just Nicole, Kathy, and I, but all of the residents in Brayton Point, in Lees River, in Swansea, on the Fall River waterfront. It’s just been inspiring to see the support we’ve gotten from the other residents. And moving forward, I think we’ll all still be in this together.”
Thomas said town residents met early on with the St. Louis company that owns Brayton Point and the scrap metal company leasing part of the property. “They looked us in the eye and they told us they didn’t think the scrap metal was going anywhere. And that left us no choice but to fight back through the system we had in place through our boards and eventually the Land Court,” Thomas said. “They were never very cooperative. They provided us with these phone numbers that they said were call centers and you can always contact us with your concerns. But I promise you we called, we had dozens of people call. There’s never been a return call. There’s never an answer. It’s kind of a dummy number to placate us but we’ve never gotten any results.
The women formed a group called Save Our Bay – Brayton Point, which grew to more than 3,000 members and became a political force in Somerset. Souza said members tracked what was going on in town government and then, dissatisfied with what they saw, got involved themselves.
“I’m thrilled that I’m a selectman,” said Souza. “It’s something that, before I started, I never saw myself doing in a million years. I actually enjoy it. I enjoy meeting with the residents. Nancy’s part of two boards. She’s on the historical society and cultural council and Nicole is a Planning Board member.”
Souza objected when asked if she ran for office to have town government do what she wanted it to do. “It’s not what we want it to do, it’s what’s the right thing to do. Residents should be listened to,” she said. “There was a different set of rules depending on which business it was. To watch that happen, you have no choice but to step in and help straighten it out. There’s an age-old saying – if you want to see change, be the change. That’s what we are, the change that we want to see.”
Souza said it bothers her when people ask how the scrap metal business can be any worse than the coal-fired power plant that was previously located at Brayton Point. She said coal dust and metal dust are both poisons. “They’re all harmful to our health. I know my father died of a rare cancer. He worked at the power plant. I know Nancy’s father worked at the power plant and he also died of a rare cancer,” she said. “We are going to be the people that stop this from ever happening in our neighborhood again. And if it takes me until the day I go, I will, I’ll keep at it. There is no good poison. There is no good harmful contaminant to land in our neighborhood. We don’t deserve it. Nobody deserves it.”
BRUCE MOHL
FROM COMMONWEALTH
Health care spending drops: Believe it or not, health care spending actually went down in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic. Read more.
Insulin affordability: Senate health care legislation has a nice sweetener for those struggling with diabetes – a cap on monthly fees for insulin. Read more.
Who’s going to pay? When it comes to a low-income fare discount, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak says show me the money. Read more.
OPINION
Van Welie is wrong: Melissa Birchard of the Acadia Center says Gordon van Welie, who oversees the region’s power grid, is wrong about the need for natural gas. Read more.
MBTA zoning: Rep. Andy Vargas and community planner Nate Robertson explain why the new multi-family zoning near MBTA stations is key to addressing the state’s housing crunch. Read more.
Digital inequity: Sen. Ed Markey and Theodora Hanna and Daniel Noyes of Tech Goes Home say progress is being made in addressing digital inequity, but much remains to be done. Read more.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
City officials say they are aiming to decentralize recovery and harm reduction services, such as needle exchange programs, throughout Boston neighborhoods to avoid the sort of concentration that led to the problems in the area of Mass. Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard. (Boston Globe)
The Boston Fire Department’s newest class of 90 recruits includes just one woman. (Boston Globe)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Massachusetts state health officials have joined other states’ health leaders in calling for an end to the federal ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men amid a nationwide blood shortage. (Boston Herald)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
The pregnant Ukrainian woman shown in a gripping, widely published photograph being carried on a stretcher from a Mariupol hospital that was decimated by a Russian missile strike has died along with her baby. (Washington Post)
Saudi Arabia put 81 people to death, the largest mass execution in the country in many years, a move decried by rights activists who said it flew in the face of claims by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, that he was reforming the Saudi justice system. (New York Times)
Michael Smith, who was appointed by President Biden to lead AmeriCorps, reflects on his childhood in Springfield. (MassLive)
ELECTIONS
US Rep. Ayanna Pressley and state Sen. Lydia Edwards voice support for the opponents of a ballot question that would continue classifying delivery and rideshare drivers as independent contractors instead of employees. Pressley said the ballot question gives voters a “false choice” between work flexibility and necessary protections. (WBUR)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The hot real estate market is expected to continue through 2022, with high prices and lots of competition. (Patriot Ledger)
Typically, customers cannot use credit cards to buy cannabis but Dreamer Dispensary in Southampton becomes the first in Massachusetts to allow it, by using blockchain technology. (MassLive)
First World problem: UPS neglected to book reservations on the Nantucket ferry for the coming summer, setting off fears among retailers and homeowners on the wealthy island who depend on the company for deliveries. (Boston Globe)
EDUCATION
Higher education is bracing for an enrollment decline resulting from declining birth rates. (Boston Globe)
ARTS/CULTURE
US Rep. Jim McGovern secures $2.5 million in federal money for the Northampton Community Arts Trust. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
Roadrunner, a new Allston music venue that can hold a standing crowd of up to 3,500 people, will open on Tuesday. (Boston Globe)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The US Environmental Protection Agency will designate a 3.7-mile stretch of the lower Neponset River a Superfund site, putting it in line for significant federal spending and expertise to clean it of various toxins. (Boston Globe)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
The Supreme Judicial Court considers how far prosecutors can go in humanizing victims. (Salem News)
MEDIA
Brent Renaud, an American journalist and former Nieman Fellow, is killed in Ukraine. (New York Times) Colleagues and Nieman classmates remembered him for the “deep humanity” he brought to his work chronicling the lives of those in crisis. (Boston Globe)
PASSINGS
Jean Sullivan McKeigue, who served as president of the Boston School Committee in the early 1980s, died at age 75. (Boston Globe)
William Hurt, the actor who won an Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1985 and also starred in The Big Chill and Broadcast News, died at 71. (Variety)