Beside Champlain Heights School in east Saint John stands a white building resembling a large tool shed, distinguished by a wooden platform on the roof supporting a small antenna. This structure serves as the New Brunswick government’s air-quality monitoring station, focusing on measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions in proximity to the Irving Oil Refinery. Concerns regarding benzene levels, a VOC recognized as cancer-causing by the World Health Organization, have long troubled environmentalists like Gordon Dalzell, a local resident who has vigilantly monitored benzene levels for over two decades.
Dalzell emphasized the imperceptible nature of VOCs, noting that they cannot be tasted, smelled, or seen, yet they exist in the air people breathe daily. The latest air quality monitoring data from 2024 revealed that benzene levels at the Champlain Heights station peaked at 0.528 parts per billion, the highest recorded since 2000, surpassing the Ontario benchmark of 0.14 ppb. New Brunswick currently does not regulate benzene under the Clean Air Act, hence the reliance on Ontario standards in assessing annual air quality reports.
Efforts are underway to revise and enhance the Clean Air Act, initially established in 1997, with hopes that benzene will be incorporated as a regulated pollutant. Dalzell expressed alarm at the notable increase in benzene levels in 2024 compared to previous years, particularly considering the refinery’s proximity to the monitoring station and the presence of other industrial facilities emitting VOCs in the vicinity.
While the Irving Oil Refinery did not provide comments for this report, experts like Michael Brauer from the University of British Columbia acknowledge the heightened cancer risk associated with benzene exposure but suggest it poses a minor public health concern compared to other sources of pollution. Miriam Diamond from the University of Toronto stressed the importance of adhering to health-based benchmarks like those set by Ontario to minimize benzene emissions and protect communities living near industrial facilities.
Calls for regulatory actions to address elevated benzene levels in residential neighborhoods have been echoed by advocates such as Melanie Langille, CEO of NB Lung, emphasizing the need for compliance with established safety standards. Proposed updates to air-quality objectives in the revised legislation aim to align benzene emission levels with the Ontario benchmark, reflecting a commitment to enhancing air quality standards and reducing human exposure to harmful pollutants.
As federal regulations and provincial initiatives strive to mitigate volatile organic compound emissions, stakeholders like Dalzell remain optimistic that stringent regulations will lead to a decline in benzene and other hazardous air pollutants linked to petroleum operations. Despite recognizing ongoing efforts by the refinery to reduce emissions, Dalzell highlights the necessity of legally binding regulatory measures to ensure substantial progress in curbing benzene emissions and safeguarding community health.