Feb 13 2007
The Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) has rejected Hydro's appeal on extended operation of the Søderberg lines at the Karmøy aluminium plant. This means that the Ministry of the Environment will decide whether the Søderberg lines can run until the end of 2009, as planned, or must close as early as September this year.
"The Søderberg lines at Karmøy give work to a lot of people, both directly and indirectly. We need the time until 2009 for restructuring, and this makes SFT’s rejection of our appeal very serious," says Tom Petter Johansen, head of Hydro’s primary aluminium production.
In its original plans for the period up to the year 2010, Hydro has worked to encourage outside businesses to move to the area surrounding the Karmøy plant, by setting up an Industrial Park. There will not be enough time for restructuring and establishing new positions in the months up to October 2007.
In the Pollution Control Authority’s view, adjusting the emission limits for the Karmøy plant would constitute differential treatment in relation to other actors in the industry. In SFT’s opinion, an extended deadline of nine months means that allowances have been made for the 600 positions that can be affected by the closure of Søderberg at Karmøy. The Pollution Control Authority does not attach much importance to the argument that a rapid closure can have commercial and market-related consequences for the company, and neither does it emphasize the opportunities for modernizing Karmøy through the K6 project.
In December 2006, Hydro appealed against SFT’s rejection of its application to postpone the introduction of stricter limits for emissions to air from the Søderberg lines at Karmøy. Hydro wants to produce aluminium at the Søderberg lines until the end of 2009, and then close them. Instead, SFT granted 10 months’ postponement from 1 January 2007. If the Ministry of the Environment supports SFT’s latest decision, Hydro will have to close the Søderberg lines at Karmøy by 1 October 2007.
Deteriorating quality of raw materials over recent years contributes to the Søderberg lines at Karmøy, viewed in isolation, not meeting all the stricter emission requirements introduced in 2007. In Hydro’s view, the aluminium works at Karmøy, in its entirety, is a good plant. Moreover, if all the production lines at Karmøy – prebaked and Søderberg – are viewed together, the total emissions per tonne of produced aluminium are within the new emissions limits.
This means that in Hydro’s view the Søderberg plant can be run in an environmentally justifiable manner until the end of 2009 before it is closed, as has been assumed up until now.
2005 was a difficult year for Søderberg operations at Karmøy. There are still some operational challenges relating to the lines, and Hydro wants to continue to work to reduce the emissions from the Søderberg plant through a number of measures that have been identified.
The factory’s management believes that by adopting the proposed measures it will be possible to reduce emissions of PAH16 (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) to levels approaching the new emission limits, and at times actually meet the stricter limits. However, it will be difficult to meet the requirements regarding dust.
"We have done a great deal to reduce emissions to air at all our aluminium plants. The Søderberg lines in Sunndal and Høyanger have been closed, while Søderberg in Årdal closes in June 2007. This means that Karmøy has the last Søderberg lines in production, and we plan to close them by the end of 2009," says Johansen.