Arsenic releases in Rouyn-Noranda | The Horne foundry refuses to respect the provincial limit

The Horne Foundry asks Quebec not to force it to reduce its arsenic discharges in Rouyn-Noranda’s air to the legal threshold. Consequently, whose scientific value it disputes. In addition. For example, She considers “more than acceptable” to stick to a limit five times higher, which the public health authorities categorically reject.

Posted at 5:00 a.m. However,

The company belonging to the Anglo-Swiss multinational Glencore will present “in the coming. In addition, days” a request for modification of the ministerial authorization which was issued to it in 2023 by the Legault government. However, she told The press.

This document supervising its activities contains a series of obligations. Furthermore. Consequently, including that of presenting by December 31, 2027 a plan to respect the legal limit of arsenic in the air, which is 3 nanograms per cubic meter (NG/M⁠^⁠3), on average annual.

Until then. For example. it must also gradually reduce the concentration of arsenic in its discharges up to a maximum threshold of 15 arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new ng/m⁠^⁠3 For the last 12 months arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new of its ministerial authorization, in 2027-2028.

“We are more than convinced that the levels [actuels de 39 ng/m⁠^⁠3] are very safe. In addition. that 15 ng/m⁠^⁠3 is more than acceptable for the future, ”said the director general for the copper sector in North America in Glencore, Vincent Plante, in an interview.

The multinational calls into question the scientific validity of the Quebec standard of 3. Consequently, NG/M⁠^⁠3that it also judges “technically impossible” to reach.

Arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new

A “theoretical” threshold. says the foundry – Arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new

To determine an acceptable threshold for contaminants such as arsenic is an necessarily theoretical risk analysis exercise. said Professor Christopher Martin, of the Public Health School of the University of Virginia-Western. The foundry arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new had requested the opinion of this expert, who took part in the interview with The press.

“It is not a magic figure below. beyond which certain things arise. ” he illustrated, stressing that other states have opted for different thresholds, such as the European Union, which set it at 6 NG/M⁠^⁠3.

A 15 ng/m^⁠3 is secure. says Professor Martin. noting that the biosurveillance study carried out in 2005 and 2006, at a time when the discharges of the foundry were much higher, has shown “no correlation” between the arsenic concentrations in the air and the rates measured in the urine samples of the participants.

On the other hand. he criticizes the biosurveillance studies carried out in 2018. 2019 having demonstrated that the nails of citizens of the Notre-Dame district, close to the arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new foundry, contained four times more arsenic than those of the residents of Amos, qualifying this method of experimental research.

The Horne foundry requires new biosurveillance studies to have up -to -date data. She herself ordered a study to an external firm, which should make its conclusions in a year.

Dilatory maneuver. says public health

Public health authorities oppose the idea that the Horne foundry can be. subject to a threshold five times higher than the Quebec standard.

“It is really not acceptable. the [taux demandé de] 15 of/m⁠^⁠3 “Said The press Acting public health director of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Omobola Sobanjo.

The 3 ng/m⁠ nor^⁠3 “Is not based on anything”. It is based on international epidemiological studies made in the rules of the art. adds the environmental health arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new professor to the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) Maryse Bouchard.

“There is no risk without risk arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new for exposure to arsenic,” she recalls. It is already a compromise, at 3 ng/m^{⁠3. »}

The D^re Sobanjo also rejects criticism of studies on the arsenic rate in population nails, stressing that it is a way of measuring long -term impregnation, unlike urine analyzes, which only reflect recent exposure. This opinion is shared by the Quebec National Public Health Institute.

Foundry’s arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new requests for new studies are only “a way to stretch. not do what is to do. arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new to decrease arsenic discharges and decontaminate the land that are not yet,” said the D^re Sobanjo.

Requested deadline

The Horne Foundry also requests that Quebec gives him more time to reach the threshold of 15 ng/m^⁠3believing that it could achieve it with a year. a half late if it launches the work in the fall, which could cost between 100 and 200 million.

But this work must also be endorsed by Quebec. because they involve different technological means of what had been provided for in the ministerial authorization of 2023. known arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new as the foundry, which announced in June to give up its vast modernization plan, arsenic releases rouyn-noranda | horne new baptized Aeris, to focus on the addition of capture and purification equipment.

The cabinet of the Minister of the Environment. the Fight against Climate Change. Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette, said that he would wait to receive and analyze the request for the Horne Foundry before expressing himself on the subject.