Rio Tinto can do more
Ellis Ross recently stated that the Rio Tinto Kitimat smelter is the “cleanest smelter in the world.” This statement by the MLA in the Vancouver in Business magazine is both categorically false and misleading.
For such a claim to be true it would mean that emissions from the modernized Rio Tinto Kitimat plant would be lower than similar recently constructed plants around the world.
That is simply not the case when it comes to sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions.
For instance, all of Norsk Hydro’s Norwegian aluminum smelters have wet scrubbers that remove over 90 per cent of the SO2. New aluminum plants in the Gulf states also have installed wet SO2 scrubbers. In Kitimat, however, Rio Tinto now has a permit to emit up to 42 tons of SO2 per day, a 56 per cent increase over their previous emissions. It is true that other emissions are being reduced in the new plant, yet the increase in SO2 emissions is significant.
Interestingly, the plant was required to install the cement pad that could house a scrubber at some future date. If we as citizens living here are negatively affected by this SO2 increase, scrubbers may have to be installed. In the meantime, we who live in this air shed are the guinea pigs.
At the time of reconstruction, Rio Tinto simply did not want to spend the extra $200 million to install wet scrubbers. While $200 million sounds like a significant amount, it was well within the budget and scope of a project of this size. Rio Tinto also wanted to avoid an environmental review process which would be triggered by an application to install wet scrubbers.
Yet wet scrubbers are the best option for the Rio Tinto plant as it goes forward. It has been well documented around the world that wet scrubbers pose no adverse harm on a body of water such as the Douglas Channel.
It is time for Rio Tinto to do the right thing and install wet scrubbers in its Kitimat plant. Any company that wants to market its aluminum around the world as a green product yet is also dumping 42 tons of SO2 into the atmosphere each day will need to first clean up its SO2 emissions. No self-respecting “green company” would do anything less.
Charles Claus Vice President, Kitimat Terrace Clean Air Coalition Terrace