Complaints Continue Over Portsmouth Scrap Metal Business

Complaints about a scrap metal business at the Port of New Hampshire boiled over again this week, when a longtime critic complained scrap material is spilling into the roadway and puncturing tires.

Tom Carroll, who works across the street on Market Street Extension, raised the issue once again at a meeting of the Pease Development Authority board on Thursday.

In March, Carroll complained to Port Director Geno Marconi of rust dust blowing from Rensselaer Iron & Steel across the street, covering cars and building — a problem Carroll feels still exists.

On Thursday, Carroll presented the PDA with two letters from people saying the scrap metal dealer is failing to keep scrap within the limits of the Division of Ports and Harbors terminal on Market Street.

A letter from Paul S. Ford, owner of Blue Star Taxi, said "for several months this year we have had an inordinate number of tire punctures. When the vehicles are serviced for these, it is routinely discovered to be due to sharp pieces of metal picked up off the surface of Market Street Extension in the vicinity of the scrap metal pier."

"Additionally, our drivers frequently witness debris falling from the trucks leaving the scrap pier. Our thoughts are that after these vehicles are emptied of their cargo, that amounts of metal pieces are deposited within the crevices and rails of the truck bodies," he wrote. "That upon movement onto the public streets, these pieces fall off onto the roadways near the operation."

A letter from Mary Jane Brewster, who also works across the street from the port, said she noticed a large piece of metal laying in the road. A tractor-trailer coming out of the port terminal hit the metal when he was trying to make the turn. This caused his truck to shake and another large piece of metal to fall off the truck.

"He didn’t even stop to pick up the metal and I thought this was very dangerous for these two large pieces of metal to be laying in this very busy intersection. And this is not the first time I have observed large pieces of metal on Market Street," she wrote.

James Feehley, supervisor of Blue Star Taxi, said tire punctures happened about three or four times this year. "When you take that and total it up $90 a car, you’re talking about a lot of money," he said.

He said his company has not had any recent punctures to his vehicle because drivers avoid going down Market Street Extension.

"We find different routes rather than take a chance," he said.

Carroll, who is general manager of Protective Systems, said Friday he has had difficulty getting this problem addressed by Port Director Geno Marconi. He said he came before the PDA board because Marconi has stopped returning his phone calls.

He said if he does not get any action at the PDA level, he may have to go to the governor’s office.

Carroll said he believes Grimmel Industries — the parent company of Rensselaer Iron and Steel — is not following proper procedures to prevent scrap metal from getting onto the street.

"They dump the stuff and the driver is supposed to go around the truck and get everything off the truck. It doesn’t happen," he said.

"It’s a sloppy operation over there. No one’s been able to do anything about it," he said.

Carroll said Grimmel Industries’ solution to the problem is to have a guy go up and down the street with a magnet.

"They’re filling a five-gallon bucket every other day," he said. "It’s still getting into the street. There are people getting flat tires. It’s just a mess."

Neither Marconi nor a representative from Rensselaer Iron and Steel could be reached for comment Fosters Daily Democrat (New Hampshire)