City Retains Outside Counsel to Oppose Parallel Products Proposal

NEW BEDFORD — The City of New Bedford has retained the Boston-based municipal law firm of KP Law, P.C. (formerly known as Kopelman & Paige) to oppose the proposal of Parallel Products to establish a glass/solid waste/biosolids processing facility on Duchaine Boulevard in the New Bedford Business Park.

In the coming months, the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Office (MEPA) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will review the Parallel Products proposal. KP Law has significant experience in working with these agencies on similar matters, leading the City to retain them for the Parallel Products project.

The City has submitted comments to MEPA regarding the project, initially in March and again in May. Concerns about potential odor, noise, and traffic impacts have been raised among neighbors and City departments, and Mayor Jon Mitchell has written to MEPA to formally oppose the project.

In his May 10 letter to MEPA, Mayor Mitchell wrote that MEPA should consider Parallel’s request in the full context of the development proposed at the site, and not provide any waivers for certain aspects of the expansion that would allow the facility to be approved piecemeal by the state. He also requested that MEPA mandate a full Environmental Impact Report before any decisions are made at the state level regarding development of the site.

KP Law will represent the City of New Bedford in vigorously opposing the proposal at the state level, where it will be subject to multiple reviews and approvals before it can move forward.

Read Mayor Mitchell's letter to MEPA here: City of New Bedford comment re EEA 05102019

--City of New Bedford