Under fire from critics for several months, the Horne foundry in Rouyn-Noranda is trying to show its credentials. The concentration of arsenic in the air due to its emissions can be reduced to a maximum of 15 ng / m3she says, but only by 2027.
The managers of the only copper smelter in Canada presented to the press a plan to overhaul their facilities in order to reduce their pollution. According to their predictions, starting from the current limit of 100 ng/m3annual arsenic emissions will decrease to 65 ng/m3 in 2023, at 45 ng/m3 the following year, then dropping to 15 ng/m3 in 2027.
The multinational tries to be reassuring by indicating that in “84% of the urban perimeter of Rouyn-Noranda, emissions will be limited to 3 ng / m3 “.
“We present a plan to arrive at 15 ng / m3. We are not in a position to indicate how we will arrive at 3 ng / m3, [la norme québécoise] However, qualified Claude Bélanger, head of copper operations at Glencore in North America.
This pollution limited to an annual average of 15 ng/m3 corresponds exactly to the threshold advanced a few days ago by the current Minister of the Environment for the renewal of the decontamination certificate. Just a week ago, Quebec Public Health declared just as much that this threshold of 15 ng / m3 was “acceptable”.
Pressed on questions about the coincidence of these announcements, Claude Bélanger replied that this standard of 15 ng / m3 was based on “scientific models”.
Several sites will allow to reach the limit of 15 ng/m3, according to the foundry. Critical areas will be “encapsulated” and subjected to a negative pressure system. Fugitive emissions, those that escape through holes in plant walls, make up the majority of contaminant releases. By sealing its exits, the filters will “capture all of the gases”, promises the foundry’s engineering director, Donald Piché.
His team will carry out a “complete re-engineering of copper transformation processes”. In particular, the time needed to smelt the copper will be reduced, limiting polluting emissions. This redevelopment of the factory should cost 500 million dollars over 5 years.
Talks are underway with the government about financial assistance, but these discussions are only at a preliminary stage. Closing the plant “never crossed the minds” of foundry officials.
Blur around sensors
Quebec plans to impose pollutant emission caps on a daily basis. The presentation of the foundry did not mention standards reduced on a daily basis.
“Total emissions will be reduced, and therefore the daily values will be reduced”, simply observed Marie-Élise Viger, environment manager at Glencore.
The sensors around the foundry will however continue to operate according to the current “standard”, i.e. one capture every 3 days, she specified.
The reliability of the foundry’s measurement stations has been questioned when one of them was contaminated last year, preventing reliable data collection. This station was “replaced”, but no explanation was offered on how to ensure the long-term viability of these sensors.
In addition, the foundry does not intend to disseminate the data collected on its sensors by itself. It refers the population to the national inventory of pollutant releases. This inventory can be viewed online, on a fairly complicated federal government website.