'Nightmare' returns as smelly shell plant resumes operation

Richibucto residents fear a stench will return as a shell processing plant resumed operation this week.

Maisie Rae McNaughton, who is a member of the Kent Clean Air Action Committee, was enjoying the warm spring weather and walking her dog on the beach around 8 p.m. on Monday night when she saw the turbines of Coastal Shell Products begin turning as the plant started up.

“All of a sudden I heard the hum. It was really loud,” she said, adding the unexpected noise stirred the birds into a frenzy. “It felt like it was something completely out of a nightmare.”

The people living in the area were relishing the moments they were able to spend outside without worrying about the smell from the plant. The odour has been described by residents as rotting fish.

Brunswick News has reported the smell and noise has kept people from sleeping, and taken a toll on their mental health, including students and seniors in facilities located near the plant.

McNaughton said they were dreading the plant returning to operation during the crab season, and had anticipated it to happen any day.

“It’s always a feeling of impending doom,” she said.

Environment and Climate Change spokesperson Clarissa Andersen said in March that Coastal Shell’s current approval to operate is valid until Aug. 31, 2024, and requires the company to install odour-reducing technology. It also restricts the time operating between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Jamie Goguen, general manager of Coastal Shell, said previously that emission mitigation equipment called a thermal oxidiser had been installed.

On Monday night, there was no odour, but McNaughton noted the wind had been blowing away from the town towards the Northumberland Strait.

The citizens’ committee had launched an injunction request in hopes of stopping Coastal Shell’s operation.  In a written decision in December, Judge Christa Bourque had said it is not appropriate for the court to assess the request for an injunction because the matter may fall under the jurisdiction of the Farm Practices Review Board.

During the November hearing in the Court of King’s Bench, Coastal Shell’s attorney, Edwin Ehrhardt, had said because Coastal Shell produces organic fertilizer and a product for livestock feed from an organic substance, the matter should fall under the Agricultural Operations Act.

McNaughton said the hearing before the Farm Practices Review Board will be held at the Fredericton Inn on May 14.

To prepare for the hearing, she and the committee have been doing research into provincial and federal guidelines to gather their arguments.

“It’s been all hands on deck for a few months now,” she said, noting the group held a fundraiser last month to raise money to cover legal fees, and possibly plan for a costly air quality assessment.

The outcome of next week’s hearing will be monumental, she said. If the board determines the shell plant is an agricultural operation the committee will not be able to file an injunction, but if the company is not deemed an agricultural operation, the group will be able to proceed through the judicial system in hopes of ceasing the plant’s operation.

McNaughton fears if the board rules in Coastal Shell’s favour it will pave the way for other shell processing plants to be considered agricultural operations, blocking future injunctions and allowing the companies to apply for funding that would generally be used for businesses like farms and orchards.

“It’s precedent setting,” she said. “It opens a whole big can of worms as to what can be classified as agricultural.”

Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Fisheries spokesperson Nick Brown confirmed in an email there is a hearing scheduled under the Agricultural Operation Practices Act.

“Where the matter is before the board we cannot comment further at this time,” he said.

According to the Act, an agricultural organization includes clearing or cultivating land, raising livestock, poultry, fur-bearing animals, bees, producing eggs and milk, producing agricultural crops, operating agricultural machinery, preparing a farm product for distribution, wholesale or retail consumption, operating roadside farm stands, farm tourism, and u-picks,  the storage, use, or disposal of farm waste, and the application of fertilizers, herbicides, and fungicides.

Coastal Shell Products did not respond to repeated requests for comment.