The Steelworkers Union supports Glencore’s plan to reduce arsenic and greenhouse gas emissions in Quebec and plans to participate in the government’s public consultation on the subject.
This was indicated by the union, which represents more than 1,500 Glencore employees in the province, after taking part in a meeting during which the company presented a plan to reduce its emissions.
In a statement released Monday morning, the United Steelworkers said “that the reduction plan in question — an investment of $1.5 billion over 10 years without any government assistance — is a rarity” and the Quebec director of the Steelworkers, Dominic Lemieux, believes in seizing the ball.
“We are confident that with the money injected, Glencore will be able to reduce its arsenic and carbon emissions even more significantly. More than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs depend on it. »
The Steelworkers Union considers that the threat of relocation or closure of the Horne Smelter, the only copper smelter in Canada, is not a solution and argues that the Horne Smelter and the Rouyn copper refinery -Noranda and Montreal East “are the least polluting of their kind in the world”.
The union indicated that the health of workers and the population is a priority and “therefore, I ask the Government of Quebec not to ignore a private investment of 1.5 billion and not to shovel the environmental problem in an emerging country. “, added the Quebec director of the Steelworkers.
“Quebec has every ability to force Glencore to reduce its emissions in this investment plan,” said Dominic Lemieux in the press release.
The Legault government is threatening to close the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda if it does not significantly reduce its emissions of arsenic into the air.
The company currently releases up to 100 nanograms of arsenic into the air per cubic meter, or 33 times more than the Quebec standard, which is 3 ng / m3.
Over a period of 70 years, between one and 14 citizens of Rouyn-Noranda would develop cancer if Glencore did not reduce the concentration of arsenic in the air produced by the Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda.
This is one of the conclusions of a study by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ), published last month.