A ministry-initiated amendment to Rio Tinto Alcan’s Environmental Management Act permit will alter the rules around when they need to report bypasses.
For long periods of time, pollution controls may need to be ignored in order to maintain the Kitimat Smelter safely.
Before bypassing the controls, employees had to get approval from the Regional Director for Environmental Protection.
This has resulted in a large number of approval requests being sent on an individual basis over the years. This led to the amendment.
Annual bypasses are now allowed for up to 32 hours at the West and East Gas Treatment Centres and 72 hours at the Fume Treatment Centre. The Fume Treatment Centre is permitted to treat up to 180 hours of Fume Treatment Centres. 12 hours will be allowed for their FC3 Day Tank.
Restrictions also apply to individual bypasses, which are limited to between 10 and 38 hours depending upon the facility.
