The Ministry of the Environment now names a culprit for the repeated exceedances of the nickel standard in the air of Limoilou: the industrialist Glencore, long suspected but now explicitly named, for the first time, by the government.
On Tuesday morning, the ministry presented the results of the increased monitoring program put in place in April 2022 following the controversial reduction in the nickel standard in the air. Observations carried out as part of the reinforced control plan noted that “a relationship exists between the cycle of ships docked at Glencore facilities and the increases in nickel found at the Québec Vieux-Limoilou station”.
Reducing the threshold for nickel in the air increased the daily standard to 14 ng/m3 at 70 ng/m3.
Despite a standard five times higher than before, the sampling stations located in Quebec noted three episodes of significant exceedance between December 17, 2022 and January 6, 2024.
The concentration of nickel in the air of Limoilou then oscillated between 120 ng / m3 and 151 ng/m3. Each time, a bulk carrier from the giant Glencore took on nickel at the Port of Quebec.
The fifty inspections carried out “at the Port of Quebec and nearby” by the ministry as part of its control plan revealed shortcomings, 12 of which merited the attribution of a notice of non-compliance (ANC) .
“Of this number,” underlines the Ministry of the Environment, “one ANC is linked to nickel and eleven relate to various breaches having little impact on the environment. »
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Glencore received a notice on February 29 “for not having maintained in good working order and not having optimally used equipment to reduce the release of contaminants into the environment, between December 29, 2022 and December 6, 2022. January 2023,” the ministry said in a press release.
” They do not have the choice “
Faced with these findings, the government demanded corrections from Glencore to reduce nickel emissions into the air during its transshipment activities. “The company must provide, within the coming weeks, a plan of corrective measures aimed at preventing this failure from repeating itself,” notes the ministry.
“Glencore must adapt, Glencore must improve: they have no choice,” reacted the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand. The notice of non-compliance given to the company “had already shaken the columns of the temple”, according to him.
“The ministry is ready to go further and that’s good,” the mayor also indicated.
Limoilou district councilor Jackie Smith quickly declared victory. “The ministry is finally pointing the finger at those responsible,” she emphasizes. We will closely monitor the measures that Glencore intends to put in place to correct the situation and we will continue to ask the ministry to return to the previous standards for the concentration of nickel in the air. »
Glencore, in an email sent on 1er March to Duty, insisted on the investments made to date to reduce the presence of nickel generated by its activities at the Port of Quebec. “Our persistent commitment to improvement continues to guide our efforts to minimize particle emissions,” the company wrote. This is reflected in particular by investments which total to date 60 million dollars. »
The Minister of the Environment, Benoît Charette, praised the work carried out as part of the monitoring program. “Moreover,” he adds, “the latter will continue in 2024. We will take all necessary recourses to ensure that our laws and regulations are respected, particularly in the event of the release of contaminants into the environment. »