Nothing is more important than the health of the citizens of Rouyn-Noranda, we are assured. The ultimate objective of three nanograms of arsenic per cubic meter of air will absolutely have to be achieved by the Horne Foundry, we are promised. What beautiful words! How to react other than with disappointment and distrust to the five-year period granted by the Quebec government to the polluting company to reach the “comfortable” transitional threshold of 15 ng/m3 ?
Sounds like a bad joke! The Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, Benoit Charette, however, this week unveiled the proposal made to the most serious company in the world. All of the provisions disseminated, which include a major consultation of the citizens targeted as of September 6, may provide for intermediate targets – whose color we do not yet know – and brandish the threat of sanctions and control measures if d adventure the company does not respect the rules enacted, all these commitments rest on a marshmallow base. By unduly stretching pollution tolerance, Quebec is not sending the right message. Does the health of citizens really take precedence over everything?
It’s not as if the major risks to people’s health haven’t been known for a long time. In enacting his recommendations last week, the national director of public health, Luc Boileau, reiterated findings that have been repeatedly disseminated and which are distressing on the health of, among other things, children, in whom too high concentrations of arsenic can lead to adverse effects on development. There is something to shake both the ministry and the multinational Glencore, owner of the foundry. It should announce its repair plan shortly.
Although it is understandable that the company cannot achieve a target of 3 ng/m3 in a very short time, and that we therefore give it a little time to implement the technological solution and raise the necessary funds to launch the work, no one had imagined, even in the worst scenarios, that the Horne Foundry could still emit an annual average of 15 ng/m3 of arsenic in 2027.
Citizen consultation must precede the issuance of the new ministerial authorization. Their opinion will be central and crucial, and it must be respected. The inhabitants of Rouyn-Noranda have been bearing the brunt of this destructive pollution for too long.
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