Kent County residents in court hoping to shut down plant over stench
CBC
Dozens of Kent County residents packed into a Moncton courtroom on Friday hoping that a judge would grant them an injunction shutting down a plant that they say is producing an unbearable stench in their community.
Lawyer Mike Murphy argued in Court of King's Bench that the "cumulative effect" of several affidavits and hundreds of complaints shows they have a strong case against Coastal Shell Products.
"We have a municipality, an area of New Brunswick, that increasingly feels like it's being held hostage by a corporation that says it's a farm," Murphy said.
The company responded to the application by asking Justice Christa Bourque to rule that she could not grant an injunction because the residents should have complained first to a provincial agricultural board.
Coastal Shell Products says because some of what it produces is used as fertilizer, it is an "agricultural operation" that can't be blocked in court.
The complaints should instead be heard by the Farm Practices Review Board, said Ted Ehrhardt, the company's lawyer.
"The legislation has set up a board to deal with these questions," he told Bourque.
Bourque said she would not decide on that Friday.
If she agrees with the company, residents would have to complain to the board. If she finds for the residents, she can make a ruling herself.
The plant processes crustaceans shells into various products, including fertilizer and animal feed.
Maisie Rae McNaughton from the Kent Clear Air Action Committee said the plant does not appear on a list of fertilizer production companies and she hopes the judge will reject the motion.
"They are not. It's just a hard fact. They are not a fertilizer production company," she told CBC News outside the courtroom.
Despite not ruling on the issue, Bourque allowed lawyers to make their main arguments Friday in the injunction application.
They spent more than two hours sparring over the affidavits of several residents who claimed the smell was affecting their physical and mental health, their property values and, in one case, the reputation of their cottage rental business.
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