Pollution grime stains Saint John landmark

Persistent air pollution in Saint John is being blamed for blackening the roof of one of the city's most recognizable buildings.

The 8,000-seat Harbour Station is the city's primary entertainment venue. Ithosts big-name entertainers and is home to the Saint John Sea Dogs, a men's junior hockey team.

But lately, the building has been putting on a different kind of show outside,where you don't have to buy a ticket.

Harbour Stationis covered in a rubber membrane that's supposed to be sky blue, but increasingly has been turning black, coated with air pollution.

The industrial city is home to an oil refinery, pulp mill, factories and manufacturing plants. Irving Oil is now considering a plan to build a second refinery, and has partnered with a Spanish company to build a Liquid Natural Gas terminal east of the city.

All that activity is pumping pollution into the air, and Harbour Station manager Mike Caddell says the pollutants, trapped by the city's summer fog,are largely to blame forwhat's been happening to the building.

"Because its such a low cloud cover, sometimes the pollution doesn't rise up like it should and it does settle on our roof as opposed to dissipating in the air."

The pollution buildup is not new. Harbour Station staff had to scrub the roof clean 6½ years ago after a similar buildup, but the problem has been relentless, with bad air laying more pollutants down, raising concerns about the air city residents must be breathing.

"It's absolutely disgusting and it's unacceptable," said clean air activist Gordon Dalzell.

He says the roof isn't just an eyesore —it's proof Saint John has serious air quality problems.

"It reinforces what we already know, that the air quality in this region is not as good as people think. People often say [to me],'Gordon, take it easy, let up, we're making great improvements.'You just have to look at this roof to come to the conclusion that that statement is incorrect."

Harbour station management says the roof normally scours itself clean in the spring when winter ice and snow melt, but last year there was so little snow, the pollution just hung around.

The roof is unattractive, but environmentalists like Dalzell say city residents should take a good look at it anyway, because it's telling them something important about the air they breathe in the city every day.