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The New Bedford Board of Health will now meet in person Tuesday night to decide on a controversial waste transfer station proposal that has already put hundreds of residents on edge.
The Board of Health will meet at 6 p.m. at the Casimir Pulaski School to discuss and vote on Parallel Products’ proposed waste transfer facility. If approved, it would become the largest waste transfer facility in the state and make the city No. 1 in trash facilities across the commonwealth. The meeting is open to the public but closed to public participation. Residents can also attend virtually.
Proposed by Parallel Products doing business as South Coast Renewables, the station has been met with public pushback since its initial proposal in 2019. The proposed station at 100 Duchaine Blvd. — less than half a mile from New Bedford’s Pine Hill Acres neighborhood — would handle 1,500 tons of solid waste per day.
In a series of public hearings this August, the Board of Health heard South Coast Renewables’ plans to mitigate noise, odor, rodents, and other potential public health hazards at the proposed facility. It also heard from concerned residents who did not trust the company to follow through on its promises.
On Sept. 8, the Board of Health met virtually to discuss the merits of the proposal in a meeting that was open to the public but closed to public comment. During the two-hour discussion, board member Alex Weiner took issue with South Coast Renewables’ plans to ease traffic congestion, mitigate fire risks and control rodents on the premises.
If approved, the waste transfer facility is estimated to see up to 368 one-way truck trips per day. To reduce traffic in the neighborhood, South Coast Renewables suggested the city install a stoplight at a nearby intersection and limit other heavy commercial vehicles on the road.
“Adding hundreds of heavy trucks per day would make an already unsafe situation worse,” Weiner said in last week’s discussion. “I think it’s a clear danger to public safety.”
Both Weiner and board member Michele Tsaliagos were also wary of the company’s rodent mitigation plan after another waste transfer facility in the area caused a rat outbreak earlier this year. During the public hearings, South Coast Renewables did not invite a pest control expert to speak to its plan’s efficacy.
“Having no testimony from an actual pest control expert just points to the fact that there is going to be an issue,” Tsaliagos said.
Throughout last week’s meeting, board member Dr. Elizabeth Blanchard argued that the city could take certain steps to mitigate these concerns, but did not elaborate on what the city could do specifically to address potential public health impacts.
Tuesday’s meeting is the first Board of Health meeting on the proposed waste transfer station that includes both a virtual and in-person option.
The move comes after activists criticized both the Board of Health and South Coast Renewables for what they saw as a lack of transparency around the approval process.
In her closing remarks at the Aug. 26 hearing, South Coast Neighbors United President Wendy Morrill called out several instances in which she felt the community had not been fairly represented in the hearings, and perceived South Coast Renewables to have received special treatment.
“To be honest, the community has felt that this whole process was rigged from the start,” Morrill said.
To attend Tuesday’s meeting virtually, click here.
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
Where should New Bedford’s trash go?
New Bedford’s trash already goes to the landfill. This trash will be from other places. The truck traffic alone would be horrific.
You don’t have to a “Rocket scientist” to figure this out. For those unable to comprehend, NO!
This is going to be receiving trash from ALL of Massachusetts, not just New Bedford. IMHO, this will push New Bedford backwards for decades, after striving so hard to revitalize the city. This is the wrong investment to consider. Do we really want to be known as the largest Massachusett’s Dump site?
Our trash can be done away with by a smokeless incinerator. But to take other communities waste is not a good thing for New Bedford and it’s residents. If the Board of Health doesn’t vote no on this abomination, then they should resign. A yes vote would be telling the residents that they don’t care about their wishes.
With such a dark history of contamination that has led to Super Fund Clean Up Sites in New Bedford, the Health Board should have the common sense to vote NO. It is time to protect our Communities, Towns, and Cities from polluting our environment and destroying our neighborhoods.
The EPA has launched the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history. “Administrator Zeldin Announces 31 Historic Actions to Power the Great American Comeback.” (March 12, 2025)
““Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin. ”
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-us-history
Understand that Zeldin sees his job as dismantling and doing away with the EPA. Do we really want to allow a waste processing firm to build the state’s largest waste transfer facility in such a deregulatory atmosphere? Once they are in, they can renege on all previous commitments made with the City of New Bedford Board of Health, City Hall, and any and all other local and state agencies it has made commitments to based on downgraded standards.
Among the actions being taken is “Reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards that shut down opportunities for American manufacturing and small businesses (PM 2.5 NAAQS).” Significant concern has been expressed by at least 2 members of the New Bedford Board of Health with respect to the impact of the operation of this waste facility under present agreements on people with asthma and other COPD diseases. Imagine if the limits on particulate matter are reduced even further.
What other deregulation actions will further compromise current understandings and expectations?
For this and for any number of other threats posed by this proposed facility to the health, safety and well-being of, not only the people of the immediate plant neighborhood but of the city as a whole, the proposal must be rejected. The people of our great city have worked too hard and too long to change our image to have it become known as Massachusetts’ dump.