Ship fumes are wafting into the St. John's Battery, and this resident wants to clear the air

Rona Rangsch is a German artist and PhD student who loves living in the Battery, a patchwork of colourful houses hanging onto a cliffside in downtown St. John's.

She's smitten by the ocean view — but isn't as enthralled by the fumes wafting in from the harbour, which she defines as "potent."

"It is the exhaust fumes from the big supply ships that we smell. Sometimes more, sometimes less," Rangsch told CBC News on Monday. 

"With the high winds here … we can also see fumes often coming out of the ships, and we are just concerned because sometimes we cannot even open the windows," she said. 

"It feels like we are in the midst of a huge traffic jam or something. And we are inhaling these exhausts." 

Sometimes, she adds, it smells as if there's a group of trucks running their engines outside her door — and she's been left wondering what can be done about it.

"I'm not an expert," Rangsch said. "I am really just wondering if there could be improvement for a port that is located within a residential area, as the port of St. John's is."

Rangsch does see one solution, however.

She says she recently learned about land-based electricity, known as "shore power," when the St. John's Port Authority built two new electrical connections at Pier 17, located right below the Battery.

Rangsch wonders whether more land-based connections could cut down on the number of ships burning fuel for power when docked.

"The neighbours that we so talk to — they see this too, and they smell this too," she said.

The St. John's Port Authority turned down a request for an interview about the concerns raised by Rangsch.

A spokesperson for the port authority said that while it encourages the use of shore power, it isn't a requirement, and would not provide data about the number of vessels currently using electric shore power in St. John's.

"Vessels have varying power needs, requirements and connection capabilities," the port authority said.