Foundry,
neighbors still at odds
By
Josh Press/ Staff Writer
Friday, January 6,
2006
The soot, sand, odor and noise
emissions residents claim have long been coming from the Belcher
Foundry are now worse than ever, according to the grass-roots group,
Foundry Watch.
But
Foundry officials say a new system to address pollution is being
constructed and should be installed within three months.
"The smell has been terrible," said South Street resident George
Allen, of the neighborhood group Foundry Watch. "This is as bad as
its ever been."
During
a meeting in late June between several members of Foundry Watch,
town and foundry officials, Allen, whose property abuts the plant,
said promises were made to the group which have not been kept.
"A
new system was supposed to be implemented to alleviate the odors and
the noise," Allen said. "The date I remember from the meeting, they
said it would be six months, but we still haven't gotten any relief
yet. There has been no construction."
Allen's
assertions are quite to the contrary, said Belcher President Alan
Burns, who said his company, located at 558 Foundry St., is going
through the final approval stages with the state Department of
Environmental Protection to install a system called advanced
oxidation technology.
"We've
fabricated and built the (system) from square one," said Burns, who
said he hoped to have it installed within the next 90 days.
Burns
explained the advanced oxidation process would purify the foundry's
internal sand system to reduce the emissions of any toxins coming
from the plant.
"It
cleans up a great percentage (of the sand)," explained Burns, "and
anything that goes over and above that."
As
for the noise, Burns added that a "casting process inside the
advanced oxidation system would eliminate that."
Burns
said he requested a meeting with state Reps. Geraldine Creedon,
D-Brockton, David Flynn, D-Bridgewater, and Christine Canavan,
D-Brockton, along with Governor Mitt Romney and Lieutenant Governor
Kerry Healey in early December, but has so far only heard back from
Canavan.
"We just want to let everyone know what we're doing," said Burns. "We're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and we're not getting any credit for it."
Foundry Watch, Belcher and town officials have for the past few years been at odds over the plant's operating hours and what to do about the plant polluting the surrounding neighborhood.
In late 2004, Belcher received a "Dirty Dozen" award from Toxics Action Center - an organization which helps neighborhood groups across New England fight toxic pollution in their communities - as one of New England's 12 top polluters.
"(DEP supervisor) Dave Johnston said there hasn't been many complaints lately, but we haven't complained because we wanted to wait until December (for Belcher to fulfill its promise)," said Allen. "The town's kind of backed off and we don't have the support of them right now either. The group feels like its been had."
Josh Press can be reached at 508-634-7564 or jpress@cnc.com
Copyright: Easton Journal on TownOnline.com
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