Maintaining the current level of arsenic emissions from the Horne Foundry “is not tolerable”, said Wednesday the national director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau. If Glencore does not reduce the concentration of this carcinogen in the air, the population of Rouyn-Noranda could develop up to 14 more lung cancers over a period of 70 years.
“Maintaining arsenic emissions at the current level is not tolerable considering the impacts on health that are known,” said Dr. Boileau, during a press briefing held in Rouyn-Noranda.
Earlier, a report by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) found that maintaining the 2018 level of emissions of 165 ng/m3, there could be 13 to 554 cases of more lung cancer per million population. At the scale of the population of Rouyn-Noranda, which represents approximately 23,000 inhabitants, this means between 1 to 14 more cases.
Dr. Luc Boileau maintained that the concentrations of this carcinogen in the air must be lowered to “reach acceptable levels”. However, he avoided specifying the acceptable emissions threshold, arguing that the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change will have to determine it. A new certificate of conformity must be issued this fall to the company. The provincial standard is set at 3 ng/m3.
Dr. Luc Boileau maintained that the objective was to avoid these emissions for the population, “without closing the company”. “It can be an option, depending on what levels [la Fonderie] will be able to achieve,” he argued. The decision will then be up to the community and the government, he added.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister François Legault said he was ready to help the foundry financially to reduce its arsenic emissions. He also mentioned the possibility of closing the plant if it did not commit to stop exposing the population to this carcinogen.
“No concrete action plan”
Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue MP, Émilise Lessard-Therrien, said she was not “at all reassured” by the comments made at a press conference on Wednesday. “No concrete action plan has been presented to quickly reduce arsenic emissions into the air of Rouyn-Noranda,” she argued.
Ms. Lessard-Therrien described as deplorable the fact that “Dr. Boileau refused to take a clear position for the Foundry to be subject to the 3 ng/m3 standard applied everywhere else in Quebec. »
With The Canadian Press
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