More explosions were heard Thursday at a Saint John scrap metal recycling facility. This has been a persistent problem lately at American Iron and Metal and residents are demanding some accountability.
“Explosions happening frequently cannot continue,” said Liberal MP Wayne Long. “We have a neighbourhood of … people in the west side that live around that operation that are concerned, they're terrified.”
The Port of Saint John has confirmed there were two explosions here Thursday.
They follow another large explosion last Saturday.
There have 36 explosions reported to the province between June 2017 and this past September.
A citizens' group wants to see fines and enforcement.
“We don't see a lot of enforcement happening from the province, and that's what we would reasonably expect,” said Raven Blue of Liveable Saint John.
Long said “transport is going to monitor this more closely and we're going to continue to keep our eye on the progress. We need to find a solution that appeases everyone.”
It's not just explosions shaking up some residents.
“We know from other facilities like this one that are near residential areas, there's a risk of heavy metal contamination,” said Blue.
The scrap metal facility is next to a residential neighbourhood in Saint John. And while some neighbours say they're concerned about the operation. Others aren’t bothered by it.
“For many years nothing at all was going on at the port and now this is providing some jobs for people and we'd be very unwise to chase them away,” said resident Alison Luckett.
Despite repeated requests, the company has not gone on camera to talk about these explosions with CTV to explain what exactly is behind these blasts.
Liveable Saint John expects to share next week, what it says is the impact this facility is having on the area.
Blue encourages those who hear or feel the explosions to contact the province.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Lyall.
