J.D. Irving Ltd. slams Environment Canada over armed raid

A day after armed Environment Canada officials raided a Saint John pulp and paper mill, J.D. Irving Ltd. officials continue to call the tactics "heavy-handed."

The pulp mill was the site of an effluent spill that happened more than a year ago. But a senior J.D. Irving official said on Friday he has no idea why Environment Canada didn't just request what it decided it wanted to seize.

The company confirmed that more than 30 agents stormed into the mill, armed with a search warrant and guns. The company said the agents took over the company's offices, seized documents and computer files. Mark Mosher, an Irving vice-president, said the tactics were excessive.

"This is Saint John, New Brunswick. This a manufacturing site with 75 hard-working pulp mill employees," Mosher said. "And to show up and be basically forced out of your offices and not allowed in, we think is very heavy-handed."

The raid concerned the effluent spill into the St. John River in October 2007. J.D. Irving admits it accidentally spilled 680,000 litres of green liquor, a byproduct of the pulp and paper process that's harmful to fish.

But the company said it voluntarily reported the spill and hadn't heard from federal environment officials since April.

Environment Canada isn't saying why it conducted a raid at the mill. But in a statement provided to CBC, the federal government said officials will use the information gathered to determine if there was a spill and what Irving's role was in it.

"The Environmental Enforcement Division in the Atlantic Region will analyze any information gathered during this search to determine if there was a release of green liquor by Irving Pulp and Paper into the St. John River and the company's role in the alleged release of the substance," the statement read.

The company said it would have provided any documents it was asked for and has no idea why a raid was necessary.

"Many of our employees have obviously had a lot of questions as to what prompted this. And to be honest, we don't know," Mosher said.

This isn't the first fight between J.D. Irving Ltd. and Environment Canada. Roughly two years ago environment agents said Irving refused to co-operate with attempts to locate the Irving Shark, a barge contaminated with toxic chemicals that the company had shipped to the Caribbean.

In March 1998, an estimated 55,000 litres of the green liquor leaked from a holding tank at the Irving mill in Saint John. It ran into a storm drain, then into the Reversing Falls.

While the company originally pleaded not guilty to a charge of polluting under the Fisheries Act, it ultimately took responsibility for the spill and agreed to pay a $50,000 fine.