Since 2021, the plant must emit a maximum of 100 ng/m³, or 33 times the Quebec standard (3 ng/m³). Negotiations are underway to impose a much more severe ceiling on it.
Because of popular pressurethe Ministry of the Environment wishes to impose a new, much more restrictive ceiling on the company.
Glencore is due to unveil an action plan next month to further reduce its polluting emissions, which cause an increased risk of lung cancer in Rouyn-Noranda. The company has hinted that a tough target might force it to invest $500 million in its facilities and it has sought government financial assistance.
In a reaction sent by email, the Legault government indicates that indeed, the company submitted an authorization request to us last May with a standard of 60 ng/m³. However, this standard is still too high for us and we asked the company to go back to the drawing board and offer us a solution with a lower threshold than the one proposed.
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Still according to Quebec, it is not excluded to close the plant
if the company is not able to reduce its emissions and get closer to the Quebec standard
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Quebec should not pay, say QS and the PQ
According to the Solidarity MNA for Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue Émilise Lessard-Therrien, the government must constrain the company
and not put your hand in your pocket. We are talking regarding a foreign multi-billion dollar multinational.
According to our information, the former government of Jean Charest tried to impose this standard on the Horne Foundry, before stepping back, regarding fifteen years ago.
« There are people who lie down in front of the speech of the company. […] Successive governments have preferred to take the edge of business rather than the edge of public health. »
As today, the company had argued in the early 2000s that the reductions imposed had to be technically possible and economically viable.
In 2006, the Horne Foundry told the government they might reach 39 ng/m³. We have demonstrated that we can force the company to invest its own funds to reach the Quebec standard
reacts the Parti Québécois spokesperson for the Environment, Sylvain Gaudreault.
« Obviously, there is room for manoeuvre. »
All the opposition parties demand that the Legault government aim for a target of 3 ng/m³, with the shortest possible time frame to achieve it.
Last year, the Horne Foundry emitted an average of 87 ng/m³ into the air of Rouyn-Noranda.