AIM Saint John waterfront fire marks one-year anniversary with ongoing legal fight

The fate of American Iron and Metal (AIM) in Port Saint John remains in litigation, exactly one-year after a massive scrapyard fire covered much of the city in smoke.

The two-day fire began early on Sept. 14, 2023, with voluntary shelter-in-place orders issued by daybreak.

The scrapyard hasn’t operated since the fire.

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AIM is fighting a provincial order to suspend its scrapyard operations in Port Saint John. In Court of Kings Bench documents, the company is alleging the suspension was issued unreasonably and with bias.

AIM didn’t respond to a request for comment on Friday. The provincial government says it doesn’t comment on matters before the court.

Results of a task force report on the incident, conducted by the provincial government and port authority, found many scrap metal piles were more than twice the permitted size, and that the city’s water and fire resources weren’t sufficient to respond to such a large fire.

The Saint John Community Coalition (formerly known as Livable Saint John) has been fighting for intervenor status in the ongoing Court of King’s Bench case.

“A year after the fire, the public doesn’t really have a say in how things are going," says Raven Blue, a co-ordinator with the group. "The Clear Air Act doesn’t allow for public engagement on a facility like this.”

“Applying to be an intervenor is the only way to get engagement with the public.”

Blue expects any decision on the group’s intervenor status to come after this fall’s upcoming provincial election. The volunteer group has been hosting a table at the city’s Queens Square Market this summer, gathering comments from residents.

Blue says AIM’s Port Saint John future is in legal hands now “because our regulations are so weak.”

“I don’t think there’s much of an appetite in New Brunswick to regulate industry in a really significant or strong way. I think culturally we’ve been enabling industry to do what they want without regulating them,” says Blue.

This past spring, Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters that he doesn’t believe AIM will ever operate in its Port Saint John location again.

“I didn’t expect that it would be easy,” said Higgs on March 25, shortly after AIM launched its legal case. “I don’t see that it’ll be a short argument because I’m sure AIM will fight it with everything they can. But I think the message is clear that their ability to operate safely in the harbour is not there and we were clear on that with the judgment, but I guess I wasn’t surprised at their pushback.”

Aside from legal issues, there’s been ongoing concerns about soil and water contamination. Last fall, some areas within the fire’s smoke plume were advised by the Department of Health to throw away any garden produce that couldn’t be washed thoroughly.

Saint John mayor Donna Reardon says the incident has served as a learning experience for identifying safety vulnerabilities within the city.

“We need to know what the risks are for any industry coming into the city,” says Reardon. “And we need to understand what it’s going to cost the citizens of Saint John to mitigate those risks.”

The task force report made note of how it took 22-million gallons of water to fight the fire, with 17 million gallons pumped by an Atlantic Osprey owned by J.D. Irving.

“The City of Saint John does not own an Osprey and could not put that fire out any other way,” says Reardon.

The city sent AIM a bill for nearly $219,000 to cover costs related to fighting the fire, which the company did pay.

Reardon says the one-year anniversary may bring frustration for some, because issues remain unresolved.

“It’s not final yet,” said Reardon. “But it’s on its way to being final.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Avery MacRae and Laura Brown

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