Open in full screen mode Northvolt will begin in the coming days the preparatory work for the site which will host its battery factory after having obtained, from Quebec, the necessary authorizations. The Canadian Press A group of citizens deplores the government authorization obtained Monday by Northvolt, which will allow the battery manufacturer to start construction work on the future factory in McMasterville and Saint-Basile-le-Grand. The Citizen Action Committee mobilized against the Northvolt project finds it very worrying that the Ministry of the Environment authorized, on Monday, the start of construction work which will cause the destruction of 13 hectares of wetlands. These citizens denounce the lack of transparency from the government and have been calling, for weeks, for an investigation by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) to be held in full. of the Northvolt industrial megaproject.
An area of 130,000 square meters of wetlands will be permanently affected on the Northvolt land, straddling McMasterville and Saint-Basile- le-Grand, in Montérégie.
In a press release, the group indicates that these wetlands, increasingly rare in Montérégie, are natural filters and carbon sinks essential to countering climate change.
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According to him, the government is ignoring the precautionary principle and citizen participation.
Public meetings had been planned with the citizens of McMasterville and Saint-Basile-le-Grand , but they were canceled at the last minute. We expected much better from our political leaders.
A quote from Excerpt from the press release from the Citizen Action Committee mobilized against the Northvolt project
Ensuring that the Northvolt project is not subject to the BAPE process, by modifying the criteria behind closed doors, is outrageous, wrote the Citizen Action Committee mobilized against the Northvolt project.
The Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP) judges that the project does not involve significant encroachment in areas deemed more sensitive on the site, namely: all watercourses and their banks; all flood zones; wetlands which constitute a potential breeding habitat for certain species such as the least bittern.
In a press release published Monday, the ministry indicates that in order to mitigate the impact on wildlife habitats, the company is committed to creating, restoring or conserving natural environments on an area to be determined, which will be of equal ecological value.
Northvolt confirmed on Thursday that it had chosen to set up its factory in Montérégie, in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and in McMasterville. Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and François Legault were present at the announcement.
Northvolt's future lithium battery plant will receive $7.3 billion aid from the provincial and federal governments.
A regulation was modified last February by Quebec, allowing the Northvolt project to escape under examination by the BAPE, according to information first relayed by Radio-Canada.
Its production capacity would be 56,000 metric tons, and the Regulation relating to the assessment and review of the environmental impacts of certain projects was amended so as to avoid a BAPE assessment for battery factories that produce 60,000 tons metric or less.