In order to appease the concerns of the citizens of Limoilou, the Minister of the Environment assures that he is relying on science and public health to soon make it possible to significantly increase the threshold for nickel emissions into the air.
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“We wanted to do things right and we relied on scientists and specialists who, today, tell us that we can very safely review this standard,” pleaded Minister Benoit Charette on Tuesday.
By filing this regulation on December 16, Quebec wants to allow the mining industry to quintuple – from 14 to 70 nanograms per cubic meter – the daily standard for nickel emissions into the air.
“Quebec’s standards were contrary to the spirit of many others internationally,” said the Minister, giving the example of Ontario and Europe.
For the Legault government, nickel is “a key component for the electrification of transport” and for its development strategy for the battery sector for electric vehicles.
On Tuesday, the Public Health Department (DSP) of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale announced that director André Dontigny will speak out on this issue on February 3 during the plenary committee of the City of Quebec.
In a report dated February 2021, the DSP said “accept the revised values” while recommending the implementation of “measures to eliminate any overrun of the future standard over 24 hours”.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
In the early 2010s, citizens of the Limoilou sector, in Quebec City, led a major fight against red dust.
Contradictions
Asked by The newspaper, expert Slavko Sebez deplored the “contradictions” of the Quebec government, which “sows confusion by playing with standards without giving good explanations to the population”.
Holder of a master’s degree in community health, Mr. Sebez is an environmental health consultant. He worked for 15 years at the DSP before retiring in 2015.
“It’s a bit ridiculous that the government is changing the standard for nickel for the third time in a short period of time. The current proposed standard is less stringent than the initial standard set 10 years ago. There are a lot of contradictions,” he said.
Professor at Laval University, Chantal Pouliot has devoted a book to the recent fight of the citizens of the Limoilou district against red dust.
Affirming that the Limoilou sector is “considered a sacrificial zone”, she maintained that “nothing justifies the decision to further degrade air quality in the central districts of the city”.
On the other hand, Sylvain Gaudreault, PQ spokesperson for the environment, felt that Minister Charette should apply “the precautionary principle” in this file and reconsider his decision to modify the standard.