Dozens of complaints to province about AIM came years before massive fire, documents show
Mayor says official complaints probably represent a 'fraction' of people affected
Homeowners and residents of Saint John raised the alarm about American Iron & Metal explosions for years before the province revoked the company's licence in December 2023.
According to records obtained by Radio-Canada, the New Brunswick Department of Environment and Local Government received dozens of complaints about the operations of the scrapyard.
Records also show the company was the subject of several provincial investigations. After each investigation, AIM was nevertheless able to resume its activities.
It was not until late 2023 that AIM's licence was revoked, after a massive fire that raged for two days and produced heavy smoke that prompted a shelter-in-place warning.
The Atlantic Osprey at work helping to contain the fire at American Iron & Metal in September 2023. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
A task force set up after the 2023 fire found that there were 181 explosions and 22 fires at the facility between 2011 and 2023.
The task force concluded future fires at the scrapyard are likely, and a "catastrophic" fire could happen again. It also found that AIM's waterfront location, not far from hundreds of west-side homes, is "entirely inappropriate given its now-known hazards and risks." After this report, the province revoked the scrapyard's licence. AIM is now challenging this decision in court.
Mayor says fire should never have happened
Under the Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, some records can be redacted if they reveal third-party information. The documents obtained by Radio-Canada revealed dozens of complaints about AIM operations, but many details have been redacted, including exactly how many complaints were made, who made them and their location.
Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon said she's not surprised by the number of complaints. She said she started getting complaints about AIM as soon as she was elected as a councillor in 2012, and they've kept coming until the licence was revoked. She said the complaints to the department "probably only represents a fraction" of the people affected by AIM operations.
"I had a lot of complaints, all of the councillors have had complaints, mayor after mayor has had complaints."
Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon says the massive fire at AIM in late 2023 was the straw that broke the camel's back. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
The task force report said AIM was not following the rules when the fire started last September.
"That fire was sort of like the straw that broke the camel's back. It was unfortunate it had to happen," she said. "It should have never happened."
Reardon has been a vocal critic of the facility, which rents space to operate from Port Saint John. She said the task force report was thorough and she has faith in the process.
Explosion of Nov. 19, 2018
Multiple provincial investigation reports shed some light on the back-and-forth communication between the province and AIM, and provide details of some complaints.
On Nov. 19, 2018, AIM alerted the department by email of a "controlled pressure explosion" at its Saint John port facility at 8:43 a.m., according to one investigation report. The company said no emergency services were required.
The report said the department received several complaints about this explosion. A woman called to say her house shook, and the next day, two other people complained about an explosion. One of them said this explosion was the loudest so far and that it was the first to shake the house and the china.
On the afternoon of Nov. 19, 2018, environmental inspector Tammy Savoie McIntosh was dispatched to the company, the report says. Upon arrival, she noticed yellow smoke coming from the property.
According to the report, manager Kevin Hughes said he wasn't sure what was causing the yellow smoke, but believed it was caused by workers cutting steel.
The inspector said it wasn't acceptable to release such smoke into the atmosphere and ordered the company to stop the work.
In an email, Hughes said his crew would be switching tools to cut the steel, that the explosion was caused by a gas tank, and that the black smoke was only from the welders.
The American Iron & Metal scrapyard fire raged for hours before it was brought under control. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
Two days later, the department received new complaints about other explosions.
A woman reported that they occurred at 9:35 a.m. and 2:54 p.m., that the furniture in her house shook and that she saw smoke coming out of a building. A man and a woman also reported an explosion that day.
The case was officially closed about a month later, on Dec. 17, 2018, without any further action by the ministry, documents show.
Explosion of March 21, 2019
Propane tanks and batteries are a few reasons given by AIM for the explosions, records show.
According to another investigation report by the ministry, AIM reported to the department that a "controlled explosion" occurred at 4:49 p.m. on March 21, 2019. In its email to the department, the company said that noises like those heard that day are "infrequent but unfortunately a normal part of our operations."
The department received a complaint shortly after from a resident who reported shaking walls and windows and said it was the second major explosion he had felt in recent months, according to the report.
The next day, McIntosh met with AIM administrative assistant Rita Burgess and inspector Wesley Pratt. Pratt said the explosion was caused by a propane tank that had been loaded into the shredder, according to the report.
The shredder was shut down immediately for repairs, company officials said.
Burgess also said that any unacceptable material will be returned to the supplier or deducted from their payments.
The case was closed approximately four months after the incident.
The Department of Environment and Local Government declined an interview request, saying the matter is now the subject of a court case.
Uncertain future of Moncton site
In late May, Public Safety Minister Kris Austin threatened to suspend or revoke AIM's licence for its Toombs Street facility in Moncton.
Austin is still reviewing and assessing AIM's response before making any further decisions, communications manager Allan Dearing told Radio-Canada.
The documents obtained also contain about 20 complaints from Moncton residents transferred by Ward 1 Coun. Shawn Crossman to the ministry.
Some materials were completely melted by the fire and resolidified into metal blocks. (T. Smith Engineering Inc., Court of King's Bench)
"The noise is so loud that we hear it constantly, even with the windows closed, the fan running and the television on," wrote one neighbour.
"We are a kilometre away from them, but the creaking, banging and shaking windows have become a daily occurrence," said another resident.
While the documents include noise and odour complaints about AIM's Moncton facility, they don't contain any investigation reports from the Environment Department.
The company did not respond to an interview request.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Frédéric Cammarano, Radio-Canada
Reply to Matt Steele
Reply to Matt Steele
AIM back in court in Saint John to fight suspension of approval to operate
Province asks court to dismiss AIM's bid to quash suspension
Lawyers for American Iron & Metal were back in court in Saint John on Tuesday to sort through a tangled web of court applications.
Even Court of King's Bench Justice Thomas Christie was at a bit of a loss about how to efficiently unravel the intertwined legal actions that continue to grow with each court appearance, including a new document filed on Monday and another on Tuesday.
Christie said he is "afraid that the ultimate question to be decided is months — and I mean many months — away on the path that we're now on."
He also worried that "scheduling is going to be a problem." He said the case reminded him of the circus-type act where people spin multiple plates in the air at the same time.
"You can only spin so many plates," he said.
"The more plates that I have to spin, the more difficult it's going to be to get to the answer that your client needs."
Clarke
Tedesco, a civil litigation lawyer with the Toronto-based firm of
Crawley MacKewn Brush LLP and part of the team representing American
Iron & Metal, leaves the Saint John courthouse on Tuesday afternoon.
(Mia Urquhart/CBC)
Christie suggested to AIM lawyer Clarke Tedesco that he take the opportunity to see if the plaintiffs "want to reshuffle the chairs on the patio here."
With the goal of streamlining the legal process, Christie encouraged both sides to get together to see if they could forge a more efficient path to the heart of the matter.
The legal quagmire began in February when AIM requested a judicial review of the environment minister's decision to suspend its approval to operate after the massive fire at the company's waterfront scrapyard last September.
The New Brunswick government then asked the Court of King's Bench to toss out the company's request. Lawyers for the province filed a notice of motion seeking an order "striking out and dismissing" AIM's application on the basis it has become a moot point, after the company's approval to operate expired at the end of April.
And court filings have only grown since then.
The Sept. 14 fire resulted in a city-wide shelter-in-place order because of hazardous smoke. (Submitted by Ed Moyer)
It now consists of three notices of application, two notices of motion and three referrals — a procedure established by the Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, allowing an applicant who has requested access to records to ask that the court review the disclosure provided by the public body, and either order further disclosure or confirm the head of the public body's decision to refuse access.
"It seems to have grown a life of its own, so to speak," said Christie.
After discussing how to approach the intertwined requests to the court for about an hour on Tuesday, Christie established a game plan for the next court appearance on Aug. 8. On that date, "at minimum," said Christie, they will deal with a request from the Saint John Community Coalition for intervener status.
The newly incorporated grassroots group previously known as Liveable Saint John, which advocates for the scrapyard to be permanently shut down or for more stringent regulations, filed a notice of motion last month to ask to be included.
AIM suspended after Sept. 14 fire
Former environment minister Gary Crossman suspended AIM's approval to operate on Sept. 19 because he was "of the opinion that there was an unauthorized release of contaminants" during the Sept. 14 scrapyard fire, in contravention of the Clean Air Act.
The fire burned for two days and prompted a city-wide shelter-in-place order because of hazardous smoke.
It also led to the creation of a task force to examine the fire. The group's final report was released in December and said future fires at the scrapyard are likely, and "a catastrophic fire similar to that of Sept. 14, 2023, could recur."
It also found that AIM's waterfront location, not far from hundreds of west side homes, is "entirely inappropriate given its now known hazards and risks."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Its interesting to see a judge employ a word I am not permitted to use
Reply to Al Clark
Clarke Tedesco's practice focuses on civil litigation and enforcement proceedings before securities regulators in Canada. Clarke has appeared as counsel before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Courts of British Columbia and Nova Scotia, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) (formerly, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA)).
Clarke has worked on a wide variety of commercial and securities litigation matters, including applications under the Business Corporations Act and the Securities Act, professional negligence, fraud actions, and fiduciary litigation, including complex commercial litigation matters. He regularly acts for directors and officers of private and public corporations, and acts for both private and public companies with respect to receivership and valuation applications at the Commercial List. Clarke also has experience in matters involving securities class actions, proxy battles and shareholder disputes, employment matters and defamation.
Prior to joining the firm in 2008, Clarke articled with the OSC, where he clerked for one of the Vice-Chairs and completed a secondment in the OSC's enforcement branch.
Awards & Recognition
Clarke has been recognized by Lexpert as leading securities litigator. In 2018, Clarke received the Lexpert Rising Star Award which recognizes leading lawyers under the age of 40 across Canada. Clarke has also been recognized by Benchmark Litigation Canada as a Litigation Star and one of the top litigation lawyers under 40 in Canada and by Chambers Canada as an Up and Coming securities litigator.
Chambers Canada referee testimonial:
Contact
Direct: 416.217.0884
Fax: 416.217.0220
Email: ctedesco@cmblaw.ca
Robert Brush is recognized as one of Canada’s leading securities and corporate commercial litigation lawyers. In addition to being recognized as Securities Litigation Lawyer of the Year for 2020 by Benchmark Litigation, Robert has been recognized by Lexpert as one of the Top 500 Lawyers in Canada and has been featured in the Lexpert Special Edition on Canada’s Leading Litigation Lawyers. He has also been recognized as a leading corporate commercial litigator by Best Lawyers in Canada and as a leader in the field of securities litigation by Chambers Canada.
Robert regularly represents public companies, investment dealers, officers, directors, shareholders, investment advisors and investors in the myriad disputes that can arise in the capital markets. His securities litigation practice includes class actions, proceedings before securities regulators, director and officer liability claims, shareholder and corporate governance disputes, oppression remedy matters, takeover bid litigation, negligence claims against investment advisors and dealers, cyber-fraud investigations and claims in the financial sector, and wrongful dismissal suits against investment firms. He has extensive experience representing individual and corporate respondents before the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) (formerly, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA)), and the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO).
Robert also has a wide-ranging commercial litigation practice that includes disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions, breach of contract suits, fraud and cyber-fraud investigations and claims, business tort claims, wrongful dismissal actions and professional negligence suits.
He has appeared before all levels of court in Ontario and, due to his expertise in corporate and securities matters, has been counsel on a wide range of civil cases, class actions and regulatory proceedings across the country. He is a frequent speaker on corporate, securities and civil litigation issues and is a skills instructor at trial practice workshops put on by The Advocates’ Society.
Contact
Direct: 416.217.0822
Fax: 416.217.0220
Email: rbrush@cmblaw.ca
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