By the summer of 2027, the Horne Foundry can reduce its arsenic emissions to 15 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3), as Quebec desires, by investing $500 million in an upgrade. But she doesn’t know when or how the Quebec standard of 3 ng/m3 will be reached. Residents and environmental organizations are formal: That’s not enough.
Posted yesterday at 5:00am
Henri Ouellette-Vézina La Presse
“This plan does not take into account the health of the population. Waiting five years to reach 15 nanograms makes no sense. We need to stop being treated like second-class citizens,” says Nicole Desgagnés of the Rouyn-Noranda Toxic Discharges and Emissions Stop Committee.
On Monday, Quebec announced that Horne Foundry aims to reduce its arsenic emissions to 15 ng/m3 within five years. From 2023, the foundry estimates that it will be able to reduce its emissions to a 65 ng/m3 threshold, then to 45 ng/m3 from 2024 to 2026, finally to reach the 15 ng/ m3 in 2027. Currently the allowable annual average is 100 ng/m3.
Glencore estimates that in 84% of the urban area of Rouyn-Noranda – 1200 meters from the foundry – the concentration will be 3 ng/m3 by 2027. The foundry will be at 7 ng/m3.
“We cannot say at this point how we will get to 3 ng/m3. We are always striving for improvement, but we must give ourselves the opportunity to implement this transformation,” said Claude Bélanger, head of Glencore’s copper businesses in North America on Thursday.
Mrs Desgagnés is perplexed. “We feel like it’s a bit like the foundry wants to stop at 15 nanograms. We would have wished for this goal to be much faster. And above all, that we have a clear horizon to go towards 3 nanograms,” says the resident of Rouyn-Noranda.
“The feeling of being sacrificed”
At the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment (AQME), coordinator Patricia Clermont agrees. “It is unacceptable not to even offer the population a timetable for reaching the standard, especially when we know that there are families and citizens who are considering leaving the region because they feel they are being sacrificed,” criticizes her.
“The government was once again too lax from the start. He set the bar very low, too low, and the company is content to respond. It’s another free pass that the government is finally granting,” said Patrick Bonin, Greenpeace Canada’s Climate Energy Campaign Leader.
However, Louis-César Pasquier, professor specializing in gas treatment at the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS), recalls that the infrastructures of the Horne foundry are “aging” and it would therefore be “complex” to make rapid progress towards 3ng/m 3.
“It shows that this factory hasn’t really evolved. The lack of previous investments is costing us twice as much today. [On n’a] not focused on infrastructure improvements for environmental performance in recent years. There’s still a long way to go,” he explains.
A 500 million plan
The Horne smelter’s modernization plan includes four “major projects” aimed at making it “one of the lowest-emission copper smelters in the world.” Two hundred million will be set aside for the “Phoenix Project,” the construction of a new “state-of-the-art” section to reduce the number of steps and time required for copper production. Management estimates that this would reduce the foundry’s arsenic emissions by 45 to 50% within five years.
Two hundred million is also going into an “air purification project” that would allow “all levels of gas capture” — primary, secondary and tertiary — to be served in a single conversion process for copper. This second project, dubbed “R3,” would reduce emissions by 15% to 20%, according to Glencore, which hopes to have it completed by 2026. No jobs will be affected by these big changes, says the multinational.
However, she does not hide that she needs financial support from the government. Environment Minister Benoit Charette reminded on Thursday that “the next step is the public consultation, which will start on September 6th”. “All citizens of Rouyn-Noranda and the region have the opportunity to express their views on this issue,” he said.
Québec solidaire and his deputy for Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue, Émilise Lessard-Therrien, want to demand compliance with the standard in an initial mandate by forcing Glencore to reach 15 ng/m3 in one year. “The foundry’s schedule gives us the impression of a plan that was previously agreed with the CAQ. It seems arranged with the view type,” Ms Lessard-Therrien thundered on Thursday.
Learn more
70 million The multinational plans to build a new “automated and energy-efficient” copper foundry plant at a cost of 70 million to reduce its arsenic emissions by 10 to 15%. A “screen zone” is also set to be established by 2024. It should cost 10 million.
Source: Glencore