Land Court Judge David Foster ordered the scrap metal export business at Brayton Point in Somerset to shut down largely because of what he heard and saw on a visit to the homes of three women – Nicole McDonald, Kathy Souza, and Nancy Thomas. 

In his decision, Foster described his visit to the neighborhood across from Brayton Point as “The View.” The case focused largely on legal and scientific arguments about the merits of town bylaws and the size of a particle of dust, but in the end what proved decisive for Foster was his tour of the scrap metal business and his personal inspection of the three homes.  He became convinced dust was leaving the scrap metal operation and causing harm to the women and their neighbors. 

On The Codcast, McDonald said dust is everywhere in her neighborhood. “It covers our homes. It covers our windows. You can taste it when you walk, depending on which way the wind is blowing. It irritates your eyes, the back of your throat. And we know that it’s metal dust. It’s hazardous, caustic metal dust,” she said. “It has really been a nightmare experience for the residents.” 

Souza said no one paid attention to them initially. “It started off as, well, they’re just complaining.’ Then it progressed to ‘wait a minute, there might be some environmental concerns here,’ to ‘this is really affecting everybody’s health and well-being,’” she said. 

Thomas said she has been living a for nearly three years, but she takes some positive from the experience. “That is the mobilization of this small residential neighborhood to fight big business to do what’s right,” she said. “For someone who has lived in this neighborhood over 50 years, I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished. Not just Nicole, Kathy, and I, but all of the residents in Brayton Point, in Lees River, in Swansea, on the Fall River waterfront.  It’s just been inspiring to see the support we’ve gotten from the other residents. And moving forward, I think we’ll all still be in this together.