After years of neighborhood protests and a laundry list of fines, the Belcher Corp., one of the oldest continuing foundries in the country, has announced it will move from Easton to Alabama.
The shutdown of the historic iron-casting operation leaves 78 employees out of work, and adds to the list of area jobs moving south. Reebok announced last month that it will close facilities in Stoughton and Norwood and move 230 jobs to South Carolina in 2009.
"The environmental regulations aren't as stringent in Alabama as they are in Massachusetts," said Joseph Dynof, the company's chief financial officer, who will not be relocating. "It's extremely costly to do business in Massachusetts. They want to go to a cheaper area." Belcher will sell the property, which sits on Foundry Street across from Old Pond, Dynof said.
While Belcher has been operating at the site since 1837, manufacturing plow castings and rifles, foundries there date as far back as the Revolutionary War, producing cannonballs for George Washington. It is one of the oldest continuing foundries in the country, according to the American Foundry Society.
The company now makes gas fittings, hand tools, and valves, and has had contracts with Ford and General Motors.
The foundry has for years drawn criticism from neighbors and environmental groups for what they say are undue dust, odors, and noise. In 2004, it received a "Dirty Dozen Award" from the Toxics Action Center, a regional environmental watchdog group.
Last year, the state Department of Environmental Protection fined the company $210,000, of which $30,000 was paid. The rest was suspended with the condition that the firm meet deadlines for installing air pollution control equipment, according to DEP spokesman Ed Coletta. At a scheduled follow-up meeting with the department last month, Belcher officials announced their decision to close the facility, and as a result will not have to pay the remainder of the fine, Coletta said.
Gerry Beals, a founder of the 135-member neighborhood group Foundry Watch who has lived across the street from the facility for 40 years, said he was surprised to receive a mailing last week from Belcher officials detailing their plans to leave.
"I have mixed feelings about this. It's a bittersweet situation," Beals said. "I'm pleased to see it come to an end, but I feel sincerely compassionate for the people working at the factory. Honestly, I didn't think we'd ever get to see it go."
The 68-member United Steelworkers of America Local 2782 plans to meet with executives next week to discuss their separation agreement, according to the union's president, Richard Gordon. The union contract was to run through June 2009.
"We'd like to get all of our benefits due under the contract -- health insurance, life insurance, pensions, vacations. But there's no chance they'll offer that," said Gordon, of Mansfield, who has worked with the company since 1964.
"People are very upset, because we've helped build that company. But there's nothing we can do. We're just left swinging in the wind."
Some employees are openly angry at the company. "They're pushing us out," said Abel Carvalho of Fall River, a 16-year employee. "It's chemicals, hot oils, and smoke. The people in Alabama, that's what awaits them -- the fumes and the noise."
In addition to the 2006 fines, said the DEP's Coletta, the firm paid $27,000 in 2003 and '04 for "off-site nuisance odors," and was forced to cut down its hours of operation. He said Belcher also paid close to $90,000 for environmental testing, which led to no findings of harmful or dangerous materials.
Selectman John Haederle said he hopes the property, which the town has assessed at about $2.7 million for tax purposes, will be cleaned up and redeveloped.
"Obviously no town likes to see jobs leave, because it affects our tax base," Haederle said. "But the Belcher Corp. was on life support for many years, and I think that they have simply fallen victim to global market forces which they really have no control over."
Erin Conroy can be reached at econroy@globe.com.
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