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As the legal fight between the New Bedford Board of Health and South Coast Renewables over a proposed waste transfer station continues, the board now says the waste and recycling company has walked out on its check, too.
The New Bedford Board of Health filed a complaint this month alleging that South Coast Renewables has failed to reimburse the city for costs incurred during the waste transfer station review process. According to court documents, South Coast Renewables still owes the city $84,163.35 in unpaid technical and hearing fees, nearly a year after the board denied the company’s proposal for a waste transfer station.
The board of health convened for four public hearings last August and two deliberation meetings in September, before ultimately denying the project due to traffic, rodent, fire, and air quality concerns. All but one of the meetings were held in person at the Casimir Pulaski Elementary School, a little over two miles from where the station would be sited at 100 Duchaine Boulevard.
In a complaint filed June 18, board attorney Adam Brodsky wrote that South Coast Renewables, formerly Parallel Products, had agreed to pay all necessary fees ahead of the hearings. But after the company failed to pay as promised, the board of health had to request additional funds from City Council to cover the costs of running the public hearings, costs that included consultants, attorneys, police detail, and school staff to help run the meeting.
The board wants South Coast Renewables to pay the full $84,163.35, plus interest and all legal fees incurred from the complaint itself. The board also requested a jury trial.
“Injustice can be avoided only by enforcement of SCR’s promise,” Brodsky wrote.
This month’s complaint is the latest update in a yearslong legal back-and-forth over the controversial waste transfer station.
The board of health voted 2-1 to deny the project after hundreds of New Bedford residents showed up in opposition. Members Alex Weiner and Michele Tsaliagos voted against the project. Elizabeth Blanchard voted to approve it, concerned that an appeal would take away the city’s opportunity to set reasonable restrictions.
In October, South Coast Renewables appealed the board’s decision to the Suffolk County Superior Court. A hearing date for that appeal is scheduled for July 29.
South Coast Renewables did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
Where do NB recycles go?
Another Mitchell blunder, this was his idea for private economic growth, creating the possibility of another Superfund cleanup site, impacting the safety of neighborhood residents, and now with his decision to close a fire station, putting a whole community at risk. Both the expansion of South Coast Renewables and closing a Fire Station are bone head ideas and should have never been considered.