Irving Oil's newest air monitor unit criticized

A Saint John clean air activist is criticizing the new air quality monitor that Irving Oil Limited is preparing to install in a neighbourhood near its refinery.

The new air quality monitor will be installed at Champlain Heights School, replacing a unit that has been in the neighbourhood for about a decade.

The new unit is expected to be more reliable than the existing air quality monitor. But like its predecessor, the air quality monitor will only detect fine particulate matter.

The controversy of what type of matter the monitor can detect became an issue in August when the neighbourhood was blanketed three times with a grey, gritty material called catalyst.

'We're really not going to have the type of thoroughness or comprehensiveness of monitoring of particulate that would be best to have in a community that's right next door to the biggest oil refinery in Canada.' Gordon Dalzell, clean air activist

Gordon Dalzell, a member of the Citizens Coalition for Clean Air, said he is disappointed that Irving Oil opted to install a monitor that does not test for larger particulate.

"The bottom line of this decision is that we're still not going to have the type of monitors that's going to confirm scientifically the level of this coarse catalyst material that was emitted a couple of months ago," Dalzell said.

"So in that sense, we're really not going to have the type of thoroughness or comprehensiveness of monitoring of particulate that would be best to have in a community that's right next door to the biggest oil refinery in Canada."

After a similar release at an oil refinery in Burnaby, B.C., officials there added a monitor that measures both fine and coarser material.

It's unclear how long it will take before the new monitor is in place here.

Installation delayed

Mark Glynn, the manager of the industrial processes section with the Department of Environment, said the provincial government ordered the refinery to replace the monitor in March, as part of its approval to operate.

It was supposed to be in place by Sept. 30, but the new monitor isn't quite ready yet.

"The new unit has been purchased and is ready to be installed, they're just waiting for two smaller components that did not arrive when the new unit was shipped to them," Glynn said.

An Irving Oil official said the particular matter was made from clay and silica compounds.

The official said the substance was a "nuisance" and it is "non-hazardous."