Somerset Brayton Point scrap metal business halted by judge

A scrap metal business that has been the cause of much contention in Somerset has been halted by a judge.

Judge Robert Foster ruled Monday that within fourteen days, Brayton Point and all persons operating under its authority shall cease and desist from all scrap metal operations and shall not resume operations until Brayton Point has demonstrated to the Somerset Zoning Board of Appeals that it has complied with town bylaws to contain dust that has resulted from their operations.

The ruling is a huge win for the 4000+ “Save Our Bay Brayton Point” group members spearheaded by Kathy Souza, Nancy Thomas, and Nicole McDonald.

According to the EPA, in May of 2021, Patriot Stevedoring & Logistics, the port operator at Brayton Point in Somerset, Mass. settled to change its system for loading scrap metal in order to avoid illegally discharging scrap metal into Mt. Hope Bay, in violation of the Clean Water Act. Patriot Stevedoring & Logistics agreed to pay a $27,000 penalty to settle the alleged violations by EPA’s New England office that it discharged without a permit between Feb. 25 and Oct. 30 of 2020. Dust, however, continued into Somerset neighborhoods, according to residents.

The operation had previously been issued a cease and desist in 2019, but it was eventually overturned.

In Fosters ruling, he stated that “while I credit Brayton Point’s efforts to implement new strategies to prevent dust from reaching the neighborhood—such as increased use of misting cannons, dedicated roadways for delivery trucks, improved weather monitoring, and the use of skip pans instead of grapples for loading ships—I also note that Brayton Point did not implement any additional air quality monitoring to ensure that violations would not reoccur. Brayton Point simply added a warning limit of 100 µg/m3 for PM10, which would indicate to the workers that they were approaching the limit of 150 µg/m3, but would not actually lower the limit under which they could operate. As the residents testified, and as I saw for myself at the view, dust continued to reach the Brayton Point neighborhood even under the modified FNCP. The residents uniformly testified
that the dust problem was just as bad in the year 2021 as it was in 2020. They continued to be affected daily by dust landing on their properties and flowing through their air. The modified FNCP therefore was ineffective at confining the dust to the site. Because Brayton Point’s modified FNCP did not bring them into compliance with the 2019 decision, it was reasonable for the ZBA to reverse the commissioner and reinstitute the cease-and-desist order.”

In addition to Monday’s ruling, it was announced last month that Avangrid will be establishing the state’s first offshore wind industry manufacturing facility at Brayton Point.

While the decision doesn’t shut down the operation permanently, recent sentiments from the Town of Somerset shows that the scrap metal businesses will have a difficult time receiving compliance from the ZBA.