The council in St. Stephen says it is not satisfied with a response from the Department of Environment and Local Government on its request for an investigation into potential pollution of the Saint Croix River.
Coun. Brian Cornish brought forward a motion earlier this year to ask the government to look at the discoloured water and smell coming from the river that some councillors and residents had observed.
The council sent a letter, through Mayor Allan MacEachern, to the department on March 21, 2025.
A response to the request was sent to the council in a brief email, which was shared during the May Committee of the Whole meeting.
“I am totally disgusted with this report,” Cornish said during the meeting, aiming for the briefness of the response, but also the insinuation that the evidence of pollution was anecdotal.
In previous discussions, the council has described seeing brown discolouration of the water along the river and a strong odor.
“We’ve got brown stuff floating, we’ve got smells that are coming out of there that smells like sulfuric acid,” he said during the meeting in early May. “You talk about cancer rates, you smell that, excuse me, sh*t that’s coming across there.”
He called into question what was done to develop the response provided by the province back to the council, saying the issue has been ongoing.
An email was sent and included in the council package. It came from an employee within ELG on behalf of Minister Gilles LePage.
“In response to the anecdotal concerns, a general site inspection of the area was completed by an inspector from the Saint John regional office,” the email read. “The inspection was completed along the St. Croix River at various locations. However, the inspector was unable to visually identify any foam or water quality concerns at the time of the inspection in February 2025.”
It asked for any further concerns to be reported to the Saint John office.
“This comes back with 55 words and says everything is hunky dory,” Cornish said. “This is a total insult to the Town of St. Stephen and the mayor.”
Coun. Marg Harding has said she witnessed the brown discolouration and the smell from her home, confirming at the meeting officials did come by for testing when the river was high.
“I can tell you that, right at this point, across from my place I have not seen anything brown, everything is perfect, but wait until the water goes down low,” she said. “That’s when you’re going to see things.”
Mayor Allan MacEachern said the town was warned when the Milltown Dam was decommissioned by NB Power in 2023 and torn down, there would likely be some changes to the river.
“But there is still stuff going on,” he said. “We know that.”
Coun. Emily Rodas said the email sent back to the council felt condescending.
“I grew up on the Saint Croix River… I know exactly what you’re talking about and there is such a potent smell to it in the summertime on a hot day,” she said. “I think that we need to be more direct and just state realistically this is beyond anecdotal concerns.”
MacEachern reiterated that the concerns came directly from residents and councillors, but the municipality doesn’t have a study to share with the provincial department.
Cornish also said no one from the department came to speak to any councillor who had raised concerns.
“Am I missing something?” he said.
Coun. Earle Eastman, who died in May, said during the April meeting that council should bring forward the study done by the Peskotomuhkati Nation for review.
The council directed MacEachern to reach out to the Saint John office to seek out further data and research before it moves forward on any next steps.
The Courier reached out to the Department of Environment and Local Government who said it conducted “multiple inspections at various locations along the Saint Croix River to determine if any environmental non-compliances were present.”
“However, none were observed during these inspections,” it said in an email.
It said it asked the municipal district to report any further concerns to the department.
Neal Barry, the executive director of the St. Croix International Waterway Commission, said pollution in the river is varied.
“The lower watershed, below the Woodland Dam is impacted by point discharges from various industrial and municipal facilities,” he said. “The upper watershed has excellent water quality, owing to very light development, and near wilderness quality.”
He said comparing the water quality from a decade ago is difficult, but largely, nothing has changed. Improvements, he explained, have been made to several wastewater facilities in Baileyville, Maine, Calais, Maine, and St. Stephen which has all resulted in positive changes.
Barry explained there are noticeably less “combined sewer overflow events at the towns of Baileyville, Calais, and St. Stephen, though they still occur occasionally following heavy rain events or snowmelt.”
Further work in underway to separate storm and sewer lines in Calais, he said.
Both the SCIWC and the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik all conduct water quality work on the Saint Croix River.
The International Joint Commission will host a public meeting at the Garcelon Civic Centre on June 6 in St. Stephen at 6 p.m. on water quality in the river.
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