Residents of a small New Brunswick town say an unbearable “stench” coming from a shell drying company is impacting their lives.
Richibucto, a coastal town on the eastern side of the province, has a population of about 1,400. Six years ago, it also became home to Coastal Shell Products — a facility that processes crab, lobster and shrimp.
Since then, residents say the smell of burning seafood has overwhelmed the town. They say if the wind blows in a certain direction, it carries the smell for kilometres.
“It’s affecting our daily lives,” said resident JoAnne Robichaud.
“We can’t go out and barbecue. Working outside in the yard … you have to be stubborn to be able to do it, because it could make you vomit.”
Robichaud describes the smell as burnt, rotten seafood, though she said it’s much worse than it sounds.
The company describes itself as “an established ‘state of the art’ crustacean shell drying facility,” on its website.
Its 2800-square-metre facility is located about half a kilometre from École Soleil Levant, the community’s elementary school. It’s also close to a recreation centre and a seniors’ home.
Since its opening, Richibucto residents have complained about the facility’s impact on their air quality, citing the odour as the main issue. They say they have received little to no support from the municipality, province or company representatives.
Their suffering has now reached a boiling point.
Robichaud moved to Richibucto a few years ago to enjoy the outdoors, sit on her porch, and work on her yard. She says she can’t do any of those things during busy fishing seasons when the facility operates the most.
“This makes it really, really difficult,” she said.
For those who are close to the factory, Robichaud said the smell seeps inside their homes.
“Sometimes when it’s bad enough, we close the windows and the doors — even when it’s hot out — and you can still smell it inside.”
It’s even worse when open trucks carrying the seafood to the company drive by, Robichaud said. “People have witnessed the juice from these trucks leaking onto the road.”
Coastal Shell Products has not responded to repeated requests for comment from Global News.
Some residents in ‘constant worry’
One 30-year-long resident of Richibucto said his quality of life has significantly declined in the past six years.
Robbie Cormier suffers from severe allergies to shellfish and has asthma. He said the smell coming from the company makes him break into hives whenever he’s exposed, and makes his breathing difficult.
Since Coastal Shell Products opened up the facility, he said he’s been carrying around at least two EpiPens at all times.
“When I go outside, I’ve got to watch the wind to make sure it’s blowing towards the factory and not the factory towards me,” Cormier said.
“It really screws up your life.”
He said he recently had an incident when he was outside for several minutes to take the garbage out, 15 metres from his door, and was covered in hives by the time he was back inside.
“If I wouldn’t have Benadryl at home, I would have had to use my EpiPen and (go) directly to the hospital.”
Cormier said he can no longer mow his lawn if there’s a chance the wind might turn his way; he can’t play outside with his grandchildren. He said he can’t even keep windows open in his home.
His wife Nancy said living there is “a constant worry.”
Every night for the past six years, the couple said they have checked wind directions and made sure all the windows were shut before going to bed.
If they don’t, they say it could be life-threatening for Robbie.
“My biggest fear is that I’m going to be sleeping and my husband is going to pass away,” Nancy Cormier said.
“He’s going to go into anaphylactic reaction and … it’ll be too late.”
They live about 1.5 kilometres from the plant. “We’re lucky that we’re far enough that the smell doesn’t seep into our homes,” Cormier said, adding that some aren’t as lucky.
Her father lives in the senior’s home located about half a kilometre closer to the facility.
“They cannot open their windows, they cannot enjoy the patios, they cannot enjoy the lawn chairs that are set outside, or look at the flowers, or go for a walk because the smell is so dense.”
When there are strong wind gusts towards the home, it seeps into the building, she said. “It’s awful.”
She said the lack of support from the province and municipality over the past years has been discouraging.
“We have no peace. We cannot enjoy our yard.”
The couple has loved Richibucto for decades, but Robbie Cormier said he wouldn’t have purchased his home there if he knew how life would be once the facility opened.
“To not be able to go and do normal stuff in my own yard is not a quality of life,” he said. “You wanted to do your flowerbeds, you want to do whatever. … You basically are always watching which way is the wind going.”
‘Discouraging’ response from officials
The Cormier couple said residents have been complaining to provincial and municipal officials for years, but the response has been “very discouraging.”
Nancy Cormier said the experience is “disgusting,” and it’s not only her husband’s health at risk.
“For a lovely coastal community where we had lots of tourists come in to visit, and now nobody wants to come and visit because of the stink, of the smell.”
JoAnne Robichaud agrees.
“(Beyond) physical and mental health effects this is having on people here, it’s affecting our economic development,” Robichaud said, adding she has witnessed businesses decide to not open shop in the town after smelling it.
“This is going to cut us off at the knees because there’s not going to be any business coming in,” she said.
“This is not just a group of disgruntled locals that are smelling this. … This has serious implications on this town.”
After a number of attempts to get support and talks with council and the mayor, Robichaud said the municipality has not reacted. She plans to make an official presentation to council this week, hoping to get some response.
Richibucto Mayor Stella Richard has not responded to a request for comment from Global News.
New Brunswick’s Department of Environment said it is aware of the concerns regarding Coastal Shell Products.
Spokesperson Vicky Lutes said in an email statement on Sept. 16 that the department “has required the facility to carry out various measures to reduce odour impacts.”
Lutes said the department has restricted the facility’s operating period to outside of school hours. She also said the department provided written responses to the town on this issue in June 2022.
According to Lutes, the facility has been operating in compliance with the requirements of the Air Quality Regulation – Clean Air Act.
The statement further read, in part: “The department has met with officials from the facility on several occasions and have required them to submit an odour control plan outlining what further steps the company can take to reduce odours from their facility. … They were given until October 30th 2022.”
Residents worry if they will see any results.
John Thompson, who has complained about the facility since its opening, said in a message the lack of aid from officials is “perplexing.” He said it seems the company is “immune to government intervention.”
He said he believes the government is being “selective” in the enforcement of the Clean Air Act, which in part states “no one can release a contaminant if it may … cause substantial loss of the normal enjoyment of the use of any property.”
In August, several residents founded the Kent Clean Air Action committee to bring more attention to the issue. In the past week, the committee gathered more than 1,900 in-person and online petition signatures to have the facility removed from the town.
As for the committee’s goal, Robichaud said: “We’re hoping to shut down this plant.”
On Saturday afternoon, about two dozen community members staged a protest on the town’s main road.
Thompson said another protest will be held outside of town hall on Tuesday, when Robichaud is set to present to council.
The action committee said its goal is to shut down the facility.
“It should never have been placed here in the first place,” Robichaud said.
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