Community Comittee on the Sudbury Soils Study /
Comité communautaire de l’étude des sols de Sudbury

Home       Media Release on Vale Inco Application for an Alternative Standard
Le Comité communautaire de l’étude des sols de Sudbury soyez venu ensemble en 2008 en raison du public soucis avec processus et résultats de l'étude de sols de Sudbury Risque pour la santé humaine Évaluation. The Community Committee on the Sudbury Soils Study came together in 2008 as a  result of public concerns with the process and findings of the Sudbury Soils Study Human Health Risk Assessment.

Backgrounder on Vale Inco Application
for an Alternative Standard for Nickel under Regulation 419/05

BACKGROUND

Vale Inco operates a nickel smelter in the Copper Cliff area of Region of Greater Sudbury. The smelter has operated since the 1930s, and is part of an integrated mining, milling, smelting and refining operation that produces nickel, copper and cobalt with a byproduct production of precious metals.

The operations also produce thousands of tonnes of toxic wastes each year, discharging to air, land or water. One of these toxic discharges is nickel. Over the last ten years, the Copper Cliff smelter has released 674 tonnes of nickel and nickel compounds into the air (not to mention 637 tonnes of lead, 460 tonnes of arsenic, etc). In 2007 alone the smelter released 31 tonnes of nickel and nickel compounds to the air.

Nickel and nickel compounds are known to be cancer causing, and to have no safe level of exposure. Exposure to nickel can also cause contact dermatitis, respiratory problems and other health effects.

AT ISSUE

In 2005 a new provincial regulation was passed with tougher limits for air pollution, including for releases of nickel and nickel compounds. Under this new regulation, Vale Inco would have to reduce the amount of nickel they release to the air to 2 micograms per cubic meter (24 average).

Under the regulation, companies can apply for an "alternative standard" which will allow the company to continue to pollute at higher levels than the regulation permits, at least on an interim basis, and on October 31st, Vale Inco filed their application. Vale Inco Limited  is asking for a special “site-specific” standard of 15 micrograms per cubic metre (24-hour average). This is more than 7 times what the provincial regulation would allow.  According to the Ministry of the Environment, Vale Inco Limited is arguing that this is the minimum level they can achieve at this time, based on the company’s review of air pollution requirements in other jurisdictions, a review of available pollution control methods and the results of their computer modelling.
According to the “Action Plan” submitted by Vale Inco to the Minstry of the Environment (MOE) in support of their request for an “alternative” standard for the release of nickel the air, 75% of what Vale Inco expects to release above what the standard woulf allow is from dust coming from sources such as roads, material handling areas, and  wind erosion from stockpiles and land surfaces, and 25% will be from the smelter itself,  and will be emitted from stacks, vents, doors, and windows.  There are numerous known and available methods of controlling and reducing dust that the Company has had available to them but have not chosen to implement. As noted in the Action Plan, “any proposed projects are subject to the normal internal approval process and availability of resources to complete the work” and implementation of measures to reduce releases are “subject to a viable business case”

Over the last several decades, the releases from Vale Inco and Xstrata's operations have resulted in wide-spread contamination throughout the Sudbury basin, which is now the subject of the Sudbury Soils Study. When the Sudbury Soils Study’s Human Health Risk Assessment was released in May, ongoing releases of nickel to the air was identified as a key concern. One of the few commitments Vale Inco made in their “Risk Management Response” was to meet all regulations. Now they are asking to be exempted from Regulation 419/05 for at least five years.
 
 

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