The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Whether it happens next year or next decade, itÕs clear the HBMS copper smelter, in its current form, will not exist in the long-term. No one doubts that the decades-old smelter would require a major overhaul or a complete rebuild in order to meet federal air quality targets taking effect in 2015. We can all hope the smelter will be replaced with newer technology, but the heavy-polluting facility we know today cannot continue. Why? Because for better or for worse, the environment has become the dominant issue in Canadian politics, the topic de jour to win votes. All parties are portraying themselves as greener than thou, knowing that to be perceived as weak on the environment is to be unsuccessful at the ballot box. And on the environmental file, greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air quality are key. GHGs are blamed for global warming, which many believe could spell catastrophe for the planet. Clean air, meanwhile, is increasingly seen as a right all people deserve. While it complies with all current government standards, the HBMS copper smelter is a major producer of both GHGs and air pollution in general. ItÕs in the top 200 nationally for GHG emitters and the worst when it comes to arsenic, mercury and cadmium. ItÕs also the second-largest creator of lead and sulphur dioxide. So this smelter, along with all others across the country (which by the very nature of the work they do are heavy polluters), are natural targets for stricter government regulation. Beginning this year, smelters were forced to cut back on emissions of sulphur dioxide Ð a principle gas stemming from their processes Ð and other pollutants. For HBMS, this means an annual limit of 187,000 tonnes of SO2. The company plans to fall within that range by taking in less copper concentrate. But something far more drastic would be needed for the smelter to conform to the 2015 SO2 limit of 33,500 tonnes. ThatÕs more than 80 per cent below the current cap. Some have suggested Ottawa is being unfair to Flin Flon, that the targets should be more lenient considering the potential impact. Others think HBMS is merely jockeying for either a government handout or a softening of standards. But the hard truth is that the smelter is an issue that reaches far beyond Flin FlonÕs borders. Reducing the output of such facilities is priority number one for the powerful environmental lobby, particularly those in urban centres where national elections are decided. And politicians, whether motivated by genuine concern or (more likely) the prospect of checkmarks beside their names, are listening intently and acting accordingly. Local Angle runs Fridays.
