The mayor of Saint John is calling for “swift and strong action” following last week’s fire at American Iron and Metal.
“Residents of Saint John deserve answers around oversight, operational compliance, environmental impacts, and public health,” Donna Reardon said in a statement on Monday morning.
Reardon said she is pleased with the premier’s promise of a full investigation into the fire at AIM Recycling.
But the mayor she wants the province to undertake a “full and independent audit” of AIM’s compliance with their approval to operate, which is issued by the Department of Environment.
In addition, Reardon said she looks forward to hearing from the federal government, which owns the Port Saint John land on which AIM operates.
“The land on which AIM operates is not city land, nor do we have any jurisdiction over regulating AIM operations, yet our residents and businesses are the ones suffering the consequences – the full severity of which we may only learn in months and years to come,” she said.
Flames were seen coming from a large pile of crushed cars at the west Saint John facility around 1:45 a.m. Thursday, but officials suspect it had been burning for hours before that.
Billowing smoke, which could be smelled from several kilometres away, caused air quality concerns in the city and beyond.
A voluntary city-wide shelter-in-place recommendation was issued and later rescinded once the fire was brought under control early Friday.
Reardon said the city has raised concerns about the operation and the risk it poses to the community for several years.
“Its location is unacceptable and incompatible with our residential communities on both sides of the harbour, our tourism economy from the cruise industry, and our work to attract private investment to beautify our waterfront and create housing for our growing population,” she said.
“AIM is a black eye on our community, and we cannot accept anything less than swift and strong action from those who control its ability to operate.”
In addition to last week’s fire, the facility has been the site of numerous explosions and two workplace deaths.
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