A few days after the announcement of Horne Foundry’s plan to reduce its toxic fumes, a call for calm is being called so as not to exacerbate tensions among the population of Rouyn-Noranda, where the company is based.
• Also read: Horne Foundry: CSN calm but cautious
“We see what’s happening in the city. It has become that our spouses are disgusted with their work. What will it be like when school starts again? launched a foundry worker, Jonathan Tremblay, to members of the local council meeting on Monday evening. Yes, the foundry has had a great deal of sloppiness over time. But they presented their plan, maybe we need to give the runner a chance and above all try to calm him down.
It’s a rare public outing from a foundry worker whose employees are generally silent about the company’s controversy.
During this first council meeting since the unveiling of Horne Foundry’s plan to improve air quality, Rouyn-Noranda Mayor Diane Dallaire also raised the issue of tensions dividing citizens, not hesitating to speak of “social rupture”. .
WITH COURTESY PHOTOS / City of Rouyn-Noranda
The Mayor of Rouyn-Noranda, Diane Dallaire.
“In addition to concern for the health of our citizens, we are also concerned about the social gap in our beautiful city. A division that we believe has nowhere to take us,” argued Ms Dallaire.
Last Thursday, the Horne Foundry announced that it would require an investment of $500 million over five years to modernize its facilities and reach the milestone of 15 ng/m3 arsenic in air by 2027, according to Environment Secretary Benoit Charette required .
However, the company is silent on whether the current Quebec standard of 3 ng/m3 has been met. Her silence on the matter is helping to increase tensions between those who want her to live up to provincial standards and those who support her plan.
In this regard, Mayor Dallaire reiterated her position on Monday evening regarding measures to protect people’s health.
“The government and Glencore [propriétaire de la fonderie] must make every effort to reach 15 ng/m3 and 3 ng/m3 faster,” she said, foreshadowing the position she intends to take in the upcoming public consultations on the renewal of the Horne Foundry’s decontamination certificate.
The mayor also stressed that the foundry is important for “Rouyn-Noranda, for the region and for all of Quebec”.
From September 6th to October 20th, the dossier will allow the public and stakeholders to comment online on the overall guidance that the Department of Environment “should impose on Glencore for the Horne Foundry by 2027”.
In addition, civic organizations joined their voices on Tuesday to invite the population to a march to mark climate strike day, September 23. The march organized by the Regroupement d’éducation populaire de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue (REPAT), the Committee to Stop Toxic Discharges and Emissions (ARET), the collective The Planet is Invited to Parliament-Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Mothers at the Front –Rouyn-Noranda, takes place under the motto “Together for 3 ng/m3”.