Hundreds of complaints surface against Coastal Shell Products

With just over a week before Coastal Shell Products’ permit is up for renewal with the Government of New Brunswick, over 700 complaints have been brought forward.

“It’s just heartbreak,” said Maisie Rae McNaughton with the Kent Clean Air Action Committee.

“The entire document is heartbreaking.”

For years the plant has been a point of contention for the community of Richibucto and surrounding areas with a large number of people putting pressure to shut it down.

Earlier this week, the Kent Clean Air Action Committee released all the occurrence files, requested from the Department of Environment on the plant, which totaled 659 pages.

“I made a point to read through every single word and at points I was crying as I read it because you realize people have been suffering, suffering in such a great magnitude for years and we are continuing to be asked to live like this,” said McNaughton.

Coastal Shell Products opened in 2016 and according to the documents which were obtained through the right to information and privacy act, complaints started to collect as early as 2017.

In 2017 the document states that 28 complaints were filed, 2018 saw 41, in 2019 the number jumped to 61, there were only 7 complaints in 2020, which increased to 64 in 2021, 56 for 2022, and in 2023 the number of complaints increased to 455.

McNaughton says that number of 455 only accounts for complaints made before June 12 when she requested the information.

In total there are 712 complaints outlined in the document.

“There is a lot of complaints,” said Kent North MLA, Kevin Arseneau with the Green Party.

“There’s also people that don’t want to complain publically, but I’ve heard local businesses that this is becoming a bigger movement than what it actually looks like. So when we say there’s 700 complaints in the past many years, there’s a lot more than that of people that are kind of fed up with the situtation.”

He calls it a regional issue, not just a local issue.

“I continue to say, they have the right to exist, they have the right to operate, but they should be operating somewhere else and there’s better places for this kind of industry,” he said.

At the heart of all the complaints is the stench that comes from the plant when it’s in operation.

“You pray some nights that ‘oh I hope the wind goes the other way,’ but then you realize that you’re hoping someone else gets it instead of you and that’s not okay,” said McNaughton.

The complaints, which are based off personal experiences, include comments like “the wife and I had to run into the house, the smell was choking us,” from 2017.

In 2019 another comment says “we have residences who have letters from their physicians stating the plant poses a health threat.”

Earlier this year one comment read, “crying on the phone […] very sick when plant runs, she feels like taking her life.”

McNaughton says she printed off all 659 pages, and seeing the visual representation of how people are being effected brings forward an indescribable emotion.

“It feels like we’re shouting into the abyss sometimes,” she said.

“Through all of this we’ve gotten almost no dialogue with the government of New Brunswick. People have not reached out to us. Very very seldom have I gotten an email back.”

While the end of the month lingers and the community waits for a decision, McNaughton says pressure will continue to be applied.

“I’m hoping that it’s not reapproved and that they are asked to move,” said Arseneau.

He says that he has been meeting with Coastal Shell Products since 2018 when he was elected and for the first three years, he gave them the benefit of the doubt when they said they would invest in new equipment to stop the stench.

“After a while, there’s reason to think that this problem isn’t going to get fixed by placing new equipment and for these reasons that’s why my stance as the MLA of the people of Richibucto has changed over the years and I now side in the solution… the only solution being that they have to move,” he said.

Adding, “The product is interesting. We’re recycling seafood waste, it’s part of a circular economy, which I definitely support, it’s just this plant is not in the right place and instead of having a positive impact like they should have on the region, they’re having a negative impact so that needs to be fixed.”

CTV News reached out to Coastal Shell Products, but never heard back from the company.

CTV also tried to get an update from the Department of Environment, but was told Minister Gary Crossman was not available.

In a statement a spokesperson stated that “the Department of Environment and Local Government continues to monitor odours from the Coastal Shells processing facility through frequent site visits and odour surveys.”

Adding, “the company has submitted an odour control plan, with timelines, for the installation of odour control equipment.”

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