(Rouyn-Noranda) The Parti Québécois is committed to subjecting the Horne Foundry to the Quebec standard for arsenic emissions within four years. Chief Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is closing the door on state aid to enable the Glencore plant to meet its reduction targets.
Posted at 1:03 p.m.
The leader of the Parti Québécois set foot for the first time on Sunday in the Notre-Dame district of Rouyn-Noranda, adjacent to the property of the Horne Foundry, in the company of his candidate in Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue, Jean-François Vachon .
The Glencore plant has been in the hot seat for several months as it negotiates with the Quebec government to renew its decontamination certificate. The company is currently licensed to emit 100 nanograms per cubic meter of arsenic into the air (ng/m3) – this is 33 times more than the Quebec standard which is set at 3 ng/m3.
Quebec announced in August that the plant will have to reach 15 ng/m3 within five years.
This is not enough, believes the Parti Québécois. A PQ government would instead require the foundry to reach the 15 ng/m threshold3 within a year. “We are aiming for the first year,” said the PQ leader on the sidelines of an announcement on the increase in funding for CLSCs.
The plant should then reach the Quebec standard by the end of a first mandate, ie four years. This is the same commitment of Québec solidaire. The Parti Québécois had not yet made known its demands on the Horne Foundry.
” To go to [la norme de 3 ng/m3], we will have to be inventive, our universities, our research centers will have to get there, and we will get there in my opinion. It doesn’t take superhuman effort to change the process and get [à la norme québécoise]. You have to be honest and realistic, it will take four years,” explained Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
No aid from the Quebec state
The Parti Québécois also does not rule out forcing the company to reduce its production “if we see that the pollution affects the population in a dangerous way” in the process of reaching the first target of 15 ng/m3. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is also closing the door to investments from the Quebec government to help the foundry meet the provincial standards in effect. “If it is to meet standards that are already applicable, there is no financial aid,” he said on Sunday.
The Horne Foundry plans to invest 500 million to reach an arsenic emission threshold of 15 ng/m3 in 2027. The Legault government has been open to offering financial support to the plant to reduce its emissions.