Pollution from a copper smelter in Que. the city may exceed the buffer zone

Pollutants from the Horne smelter could reach large areas beyond the expropriation perimeter, according to the group Mères au front, which presented the results of a new study in Montreal on Friday.

Around 30 citizens in Ruin-Noranda collected snow from the vicinity of the Horn smelter in Abitibi between November 2022 and March 2023.

They then analyzed the snow at a certified Véritas laboratory on behalf of Mères au Front.

Environmental consultant Daniel Greene, who attended a press conference organized by the Méres au Front on Friday morning, said the “contaminant release zone” announced by Quebec is “larger than the zone delimiting the expropriation buffer zone south of the smelter.” government in March 2023.

He explained that pollutants in the snow have revealed “high” levels of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and lead in four sectors of the city.

“When we're talking about concentrations of about 20 to 35 milligrams per square meter, that's where the ground-level standard is likely to be exceeded,” Green said. “It cannot be said that the amount of pollutants found in the snow exceeded the norm, because there is no limit to the metal concentration in the snow. That's why we have to do simulations.”

Green calls for a “snow standard” similar to soil and air standards for pollutants such as arsenic, cadmium and lead.

Snow keeps a “pollution history”.

According to Green, “contaminants produced by the foundry tend to accumulate in the fall and on snow-covered surfaces in the winter, unlike in other seasons, when rain and wind can wash and lift soil and pollutant particles.”

So, he says, unlike soil or air samples, “the snow standard reflects the runoff from the refinery.”

“Air samples are timely,” while ground samples are “underrepresentative” because pollutants can be blown away by the wind.

Snow, according to the biologist, “retains pollutants” and “even a history of pollution” due to its “various layers”. or layers of snow.

Pollutants linked to cancer

In a presentation in Montreal on Friday, the Méres au Front group presented a series of findings from a 2019 biomonitoring study conducted by the Public Health Organization in Rouen-Noranda.

The data shows that children in the Notre Dame neighborhood, where the smelter is located, have an average lead level higher than the Canadian average. Also, the concentration of arsenic in the nails of residents of this district is on average 3.7 times higher than that of residents of the city of Amos in the region. They also noted that high concentrations of arsenic increase the risk of cancer.

In the summer of 2022, a report by the Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) found that if Glencore did not reduce the concentration, an excess of 1 in 14 residents of Rouen-Noranda would develop cancer over 70 years. airborne arsenic released by the smelter.

In March 2023, the government required the Horn smelter to implement a plan to achieve arsenic levels of 15 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) by 2027, five times the environmental standard of 3 ng/m3 if the smelter is on target. times higher.

Last spring, the government also required the company to submit an action plan to meet the 3 ng/m3 standard by 2027.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on February 9, 2024.