New Brunswick revokes salvage dealer’s licence for AIM’s Saint John facility

New Brunswick’s public safety minister has revoked the salvage dealer’s licence of the American Iron and Metal (AIM) facility in Saint John.

The province had given AIM a deadline of Dec. 22 to offer a response to the release of a task force review into a massive scrapyard fire in September.

The city was coated in thick, toxic smoke for over 24 hours and it took 22 million gallons of water to fight the fire.

A task force review stated AIM’s Saint John location was “entirely inappropriate” with a “significant risk” of more explosions and fires at the current site.

In a Friday news release, the province said AIM responded on the Dec. 22 deadline.

“I have been weighing this matter with care by thoroughly reviewing the task force report, as well as AIM’s response from the past week,” said Public Safety Minister Kris Austin.

“As minister responsible, I am not convinced that AIM has adequately addressed these serious concerns. As such, it is clear to me that it is in the public interest to revoke their licence.”

Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon says she’s pleased with the minister’s decision and feels like the Port City’s concerns have finally been heard after years of complaints about AIM.

“What I do love about it is that they’ve reacted very swiftly along the whole route to this,” said Reardon.

“We are only three-and-a-half months in to this and they have already put together a task force, they've done a fulsome review, and they’ve made a determination. I think that gives us confidence in the decisions of the provincial government going forward.”

According to the release, under Section 19 of the Salvage Dealers Licensing Act, the minister’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.

However, AIM does have 90 days to apply for a judicial review.

"As a result of the environmental testing referenced in the Task Force Report, we now know that the AIM site is contaminated. The health and safety of our community and port users remains our top priority and we are working to ensure the full remediation of the AIM site is undertaken by the lessee," reads a statement from Port Saint John to CTV News.

"As AIM has 90 days to apply for a judicial review, Port Saint John will not have any further comment on the Minister’s decision."

With files from CTV Atlantic's Derek Haggett and Avery MacRae.

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