N.B. refinery dust raises health concerns

The New Brunswick Lung Association is raising health concerns about the plumes of gritty dust released from the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, N.B., three times in the past week.

Barbara MacKinnon, president of the association, said even if the material itself isn't toxic, breathing it in could cause health problems.

"People who have respiratory illnesses or heart conditions those sorts of people could have worse symptoms," she said.

"You might develop an asthma attack, you might have difficulty breathing and, surprisingly, people who have heart conditions, if they're exposed to particulate matter over a period of a day or so, could even trigger a heart attack."

Refinery officials have said the dust is a non-hazardous catalyst made from clay and silica compounds.

Residents reported a cloud of the dust blanketed their homes and cars last Thursday and again on Saturday.

The Department of Environment found it also happened last Tuesday, CBC News has learned.

All three incidents involved the same processing unit, according to Susan Atkinson, regional director for the department.

She said Irving has corrected any equipment that was not operating properly, has performed maintenance and has made some procedural changes.

The departmentagreed to let the company restart the unit on Tuesday.

"Our engineers reviewed all of the corrective actions," Atkinson said.

"The company had indicated that they would like to restart the unit this afternoon and our department felt that they were satisfied with the information and that they would go ahead and restart the unit."

She said an investigation of the incidents is ongoing.

Atkinson said the refinery provided estimates of the amount of material released, but she declined to share the details because the incidents are still under investigation.