Opinion: When We the People say ‘no,’ we mean ‘no’

America has been debating its rules and how they apply since the beginning. In many ways, we grew up with a false sense of how definitive any of the laws, rights, and applications really are. The reality can be a rude awakening. More often than not, We the People argue amongst ourselves about which perspective or interpretation of this landscape is “correct.”

And while we take sides and dig in our heels, Big Business and the politicians they installed rob us blind. Furthering the injury, Big Business pollutes our resources too. Some might say that more money can be made. But how do we undo devastation?

We can’t. But we can partially restore, learn lessons, and do better. President Truman was too hasty with nuclear weapons testing in New Mexico, and then, despite better judgment, he authorized the bombing of a civilian population on the other side of the globe. Twice. Decades later, we were still learning about the breadth of the fallout. The same can be said of coal mining and the September 11 attacks. Even closer, New Bedford has suffered from industrial contamination.

When will the American government learn from its actions and do better? The American government has a knack for selective reasoning and imposition. The American government will decide that an average citizen cannot throw waste in their yard and then turn around to decide that a company, like Parallel Products (rebranded as South Coast Renewables), is free to do whatever it likes with its property. 

Why is an individual’s property so different from a corporation’s? For that matter, why is citizen speech less worthy than corporate “speech”?

The American government persistently fails cities like New Bedford. It fails us at every level of government because the richest amongst us have been decreed better, finer, and more deserving.

At the Board of Health (BOH) hearings, the audience was expected to sympathize with Parallel Products/South Coast Renewables (PP/SCR). Had PP/SCR not jumped through enough hoops? Had it not spent enough time and money? Its champions seemed to shout, “Think of the corporations!”

PP/SCR demanded that the BOH defer to the State’s MassDEP, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. But the BOH has a protective responsibility to the city. New Bedford’s BOH correctly utilized its power and said, “No.”

Since that denial, PP/SCR has audaciously filed an appeal in Suffolk County. Corporations are used to getting their way. So, PP/SCR comfortably disrespects New Bedford’s autonomy. PP may have rebranded with a cleaner-sounding name, SCR, but people are getting better at sniffing out the garbage.

The American government is failing its people, but America is more than the corrupt representatives who prioritize their enrichment. America is millions of people, thousands of cities, and most invincibly, an amazing idea.

I invite you to think of your truest vision of America and what it means to you. Does that image include clean air, water, and land? Do you need guidance for how that should sound, look, smell, feel, and taste? How do you feel about a so-called “environmental protection” that negotiates with corporations to determine how much pollution is “acceptable” in your America?

Corporations, and those that coddle them, weaponize language. Plain words get twisted into complexity. As the MassDEP demonstrates, “environmental protection” is subject to interpretation. Similarly, during this appeals process, PP/SCR will try to exploit a willfully broken system. It will try to make terminology unclear while it claims to define what constitutes terms like “site suitability,” “contamination,” and “substantial rights.”

I’m not a lawyer, and from what I’ve seen, this process befuddles experts. So, I have no qualms about offering my impression:

— When the people of New Bedford say “no,” New Bedford is no longer “suitable” for PP/SCR’s project.

— New Bedford doesn’t need condescending, presumably biased, so-called experts to explain how much trash is “actually” worthy of concern.

— The people of New Bedford’s rights are more “substantial” than any corporation’s.

There is no invisible barrier to guard New Bedford’s people from the fallout of PP/SCR’s practices. This is true no matter how terms are defined or how doggedly PP/SCR emphasizes words like “feet” and “mile.” New Bedford has seen enough pollution, toxins that should have never been near people.

Repeatedly, the people of New Bedford have declared, “No More!” And it’s well past time for the American government — from the mayor to the state to the federal bureaucracy — to listen to its people.

Christina Lambert-Gorwyn is a resident of New Bedford.