Coastal Shell declares bankruptcy, clean air activists breathe sigh of relief | CBC News

A shellfish disposal facility in eastern New Brunswick that’s been the subject of complaints and legal action over odour and noise has declared bankruptcy.

The Coastal Shell plant in Richibucto filed on Dec. 10, listing nearly $13 million in liabilities and less than $1.5 million in assets, according to the federal bankruptcy and insolvency database.

For the Kent Clean Air Action Committee, the news still feels surreal, spokesperson Maisie McNaughton said Thursday. 

“It’s hard to put into words what we’re feeling because it’s been eight years of fighting pretty much every day,” she said.

The group formed in 2022, writing petitions and letters to elected officials against the plant, which recycled lobster and crab shell waste into fertilizer and other products.

“While we have been successful in our efforts and while the nightmare has finally come to a close, I find a lot of us are still a little bit on edge because we remember what it felt like for those eight years,” McNaughton said.

“So while we may kind of breathe a big deep sigh of fresh air right now, it still doesn’t really take away what we experienced as a community.”

Crown corporation biggest creditor at $7.6M

Coastal Shell has at least 35 creditors with claims of $250 or more, according to court documents filed in August.

The largest among them is the Business Development Bank of Canada, Atlantic Special Accounts, at nearly $7.6 million — representing about 67 per cent of the company’s debt.

The Crown corporation, which reports to Parliament through the minister of industry, provides financing, venture capital and consulting services to entrepreneurs.

Some of the other creditors include Superior Propane, which is owed  more than $58,000, Inproheat Industries Ltd., which is owed more than $27,000, and N.B. Power, which is owed more than $15,000.

Powell Associates Ltd. is the appointed licensed insolvency trustee. David Moffatt, an insolvency counsellor with the firm, declined to comment.

Coastal Shell general manager Jamie Goguen did not respond to a request Thursday for comment. The company’s number is no longer in service.

Closed since June

The facility, which had been operating since 2016, closed on June 16, citing financial reasons. A letter from the general manager to processors who relied on the plant to dispose of shells at the time said the company had an operating loss of “over $1.2 million.” 

Goguen attributed the losses to “operational limitations” imposed by the province, including reduced operating hours following public complaints.

Coastal Shell had previously attempted to be recognized as an agricultural operation to block a court application to have its plant shut down, but the province’s Farm Practices Review Board ruled against it in May.

Nat Richard, executive director of the Lobster Processors Association, could not be reached for comment Thursday. When the plant closed in June, leaving processors scrambling to find alternatives for disposing of shells, he said there were multiple composting sites across the province licensed to handle fishery byproducts.

Return to ‘normal little town’

It’s been a “long, tumultuous journey” for residents, said McNaughton, but a worthwhile one. They haven’t detected any odour since the plant ceased operations, she said.

“We can breathe clean air again. The children that are at École Soleil Levant can have a normal school experience. Our seniors are able to be inside of their senior complex without having to wear masks and shut their air conditioners off. We can walk outside.

“We can just basically be a normal little town, which is what we were fighting for the entire time.”

If you fight hard enough for something, it can change the course of the future.– Maisie McNaughton, Kent Clean Air Action Committee

McNaughton hopes the bankruptcy represents the “true end.”

There’s no word yet on what will happen with the Coastal Shell building and the property,which is still zoned industrial and is situated 160 metres from the closest residence and 200 metres from the school, she said.

“There’s always that looming danger that something else can come in.”

But she expects a new business would prompt an environmental impact assessment, which would include public consultations. Her group will be ready for whatever happens, she said.

Meanwhile, she hopes the town’s experience serves as a warning to other communities to be vigilant about new businesses looking to set up shop.

“We showed what can happen if a community bands together based around one specific goal and purpose. And that if you fight hard enough for something, it can change the course of the future.”

Kent North MLA Pat Finnigan, who is the minister of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries, also did not respond to a request for comment.