Letter to the Editor: State needs to put an end to suffering at Excel Recycling's hands

Industry-specific regulation via focused legislation for the scrap metal shredding and recycling industry is sorely needed in Masschusetts, especially if Excel Recycling LLC remains a player, and an ambitious one at that.

Residents’ frustration, justified, is exponentially greater than the appearance of the effort being put forth by MassDEP to resolve the matter of a nuisance polluter, Excel Recycling’s metal shredding and recycling facility in Freetown.

Residents are displaced. DEP controls their backyards, front yards, the air they breathe, their lives. DEP’s Air Approval Permit on Excel’s mega auto-shredder has squashed the authority of an entire town.

Residents’ persistence at communicating with state officials aims to bring into proportion the problem and the work needed to solve it. Excel needs to be removed and relocated. DEP protocol must accommodate expeditious resolution in a case like this. It is tepidly reassuring to hear from DEP Commissioner Suuberg that efforts are being coordinated inter-departmentally, the matter being taken seriously. Residents have been breathing emissions for two years.

They have sacrificed work hours and free time, losing peace of mind in the one place where it is guaranteed free for the taking, at home. At home here, a master craftsman built his own, where he has raised his family and made a lifetime of memories. Will he have to sell? A night nurse sacrifices sleep, as he must sleep during the day, yet cannot due to the noise and vibration that rock his. A mother, who home-schooled her two young boys until this year, sacrificed recess and outdoor lessons because of noise and foul air. An elderly woman, hard of hearing and breathing, startles every time there is an explosion, as constant rattling of contents in the home stimulate migraines in her daughter who has vertigo, rendering her helpless to care for her mom. Are they sacrificing final years of peace? The list goes on.

As long as Excel remains, the suffering and sacrifice among residents will accumulate, not the least of which will be the accumulation of metal and other toxins in their bodies as they are put at risk for suffering the ultimate sacrifice, their health.

This is neither exaggerated nor is it unique to Freetown. DEP must research other occurrences and the responses of other regulatory authorities and state legislatures. Massachusetts must respond with similar urgency, curiosity, dedication and commitment to changes, i.e., how these facilities are defined, sited, permitted, regulated and held accountable.

Excel Recycling, as a scrap metal shredding and recycling facility, provides a valuable service to the region, to the world. As a recycler of metal, Excel rightfully owns that reputation. However, it is not currently worthy of that green prestige because Massachusetts does not consider Excel Recycling a metals recycler, even though state law, chapter 21H section 2, says otherwise. That defiance or ignorance of facility definition, tip of the regulatory iceberg, trickles down to local permitting, which dangerously allows for anemic permitting and ineffective kid-gloves enforcement when things go bad.

It is good that what is happening here in Freetown is being taken seriously, because it cannot be repeated elsewhere. In our state, which prides itself on environmental stewardship, this should not happen a second time.

It is important if Excel is allowed its shredder elsewhere, and it should be allowed, that it operates the shredder far from residents and drinking water supplies. Equally important is for Excel, and other like facilities, to be recognized as recyclers of metal, and that the shredded scrap and the process that shreds and sorts it is regulated.

The Costas pride themselves on their state-of-the-art equipment. Who wouldn't? It is impressive. However, without sufficient regulation the tendency exists to run roughshod over anemic local bylaws, vague state laws and thousands of scattered environmental regulations, i.e., hindrances, which provide nothing close to comprehensive protection of the environment and public health, and which in turn setup businesses within the industry to fail, pollute or both. A "state-of-the-art" facility then becomes dirty, desperate, suspicious and renegade as it tries to outrun the law; and, indeed, in Excel's case, it is, it has.

If Massachusetts intends to recycle metal -- above board -- and is concerned for the survival of not only the industry but also of those who live and breathe it, both on and off site, then collaboration not only within MassDEP but between MassDEP and independent environmental agencies, public health officials, other metals recyclers in the state, their communities and consultation with other states must occur.

Leia Adey

Freetown