The major marine kerosene terminal project is no longer welcome in Montreal East, learned The duty. The new mayor believes that these oil infrastructures – authorized in 2019 by the Quebec government, but whose construction has not yet started – go “against” her vision for a “green” and “sustainable” revitalization of her city. territory.
“We want to make a 180 degree turn from the petrochemical era,” confirms in an interview Anne St-Laurent, elected mayor of Montreal East last November. After welcoming it with open arms, the municipality is no longer in favor of this project, which aims to supply fuel to the airports of Toronto (69% of the total volume), Montreal (23%) and Ottawa (8 %).
The $150 million project, led by the Corporation internationale d’avitaillement de Montréal (CIAM), includes a marine terminal in the Port of Montreal, eight large tanks, a transshipment area for loading railcars and tanker trucks, and a section of pipeline to connect the terminal to the Trans-Northern pipeline.
In 2018, the project obtained a favorable opinion from the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), accompanied by safety warnings. The following year, the Quebec government gave the green light by decree. While commissioning was scheduled for 2021, the project was delayed and work has still not started.
Asked by The duty, the CIAM ensures that “the project is still moving forward” and that permit applications are in progress. “The project has been developed with rigor for eight years now, in consultation with all the stakeholders concerned”, including the City of Montreal East, explains the president of the CIAM, Robert Iasenza, in a response sent by email.
Mme Saint-Laurent recognizes that it would be very difficult to have the government decree annulled. It has therefore made the bet, in recent months, to negotiate with CIAM. The seven-kilometre stretch of pipeline, which runs along residential areas, is at the heart of the dispute. “Heavy industry always brings its dangers,” underlines the mayor. She would also like vegetated mounds to be created to visually isolate the transhipment area.
This area, located north of Notre-Dame Street, is adjacent to the former Esso lands, which are of “strategic” importance for the redevelopment of Montreal East. After the decontamination of these different batches, Mme St-Laurent dreams of seeing an “eco-campus” set up there, focused on innovation, green chemistry and light industry. This would include residences and parks. “We want a complete living environment,” she says.
It is very rare for a municipality to object to the presence of an industrial project on its territory, says Jean Baril, retired professor of environmental law at UQAM and BAPE specialist. “Generally, municipal authorities are in favor of these projects because, for them, they are important sources of land revenue,” he says.
Montreal East’s hoped-for shift towards clean technologies is part of the revitalization plan for East Montreal, supported by the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal, aimed at creating an “innovative and sustainable economic hub” there. .
“Our vision for eastern Montreal is to make it an industrial hub focused on ecological transition. So, it is certain that storing kerosene, building a transshipment space, that does not fit with our vision,” says Luc Rabouin, responsible for economic development within the executive committee of the City of Montreal.
In 2018, the City of Montreal had not submitted a brief to the BAPE concerning the terminal project. “Things have evolved over the past four years,” explains Mr. Rabouin. Awareness of the climate emergency is really much stronger. “Because of the government decree, however, the elected official admits that the City has “few legal levers” to block the project.
Patricia Clermont, coordinator of the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment (AQME), considers that the CIAM project still poses serious risks for the local population. “Eight large reservoirs and an old pipeline that has had a lot of problems: that could not worry us less,” says this resident of eastern Montreal.
In their 2018 report, the BAPE commissioners raised the risk of an accident “with serious consequences” for residents near the new section of pipeline. They also warned of potential failures in the Trans-Northern pipeline, built in 1952 and which has experienced several incidents over the years.
In addition to transportation by pipeline, the CIAM project involves the use of 11,000 tank cars and 3,000 tank trucks per year to transport fuel from the Montreal East terminal to Ontario airports. This kerosene currently transits through the Port of Quebec before being sent west by train. The project aims to reduce rail transport and increase imports of kerosene.