A liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant project in Lévis is trying to receive the blessing of the authorities. Former candidate of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and ex-mayor of Sainte-Adèle, Robert Milot is seeking in particular to “obtain approval” from the Ministry of Energy and Innovation, according to his registration in the register of lobbyists.
Mr. Milot has already had at least one meeting with the administration of the City of Lévis, but not with Mayor Gilles Lehouiller, his office confirmed to Duty. The lobbyist’s mandate has been registered since last February and also aims to meet with the office of the local MP, Bernard Drainville, as well as obtaining authorization from Hydro-Québec for an electricity permit.
“I am doomed to silence for the moment,” replied the former politician when reached by telephone. He affirmed that the LNG plant project is “embryonic”, as well as “delicate and politicized”, but “it looks very good”, he said on the phone. Meetings would also have taken place with the Ministry of Energy and Innovation and representatives of the City of Quebec, which The duty could not confirm at the time of writing.
It is a numbered company which is Mr. Milot’s client and which is seeking this authorization. This holding company notably uses the name Services Ékoxplor, according to the business registrar. One of the company’s shareholders, Gary Allan, denied doing business with the lobbyist when contacted by The duty and insisted that his activities were more on the mining exploration side, he who has another company registered in this capacity.
A relaunch ?
No one wanted to comment on the real location of this potential future LNG plant in Lévis. However, some are concerned that the land targeted is that of the aborted Rabaska LNG terminal project in the east of the city. “Yes, for me there is a direct equation between an LNG plant and the land of Rabaska,” said Jean Gosselin, a farmer from Lévis, on Monday morning.
Co-founder of Ferme des Ruisseaux, Mr. Gosselin followed the Rabaska saga closely, since a gas pipeline was to cross his agricultural property. He was also among the group of agricultural producers who made representations before the Commission for the Protection of the Agricultural Territory of Quebec (CPTAQ) to prevent the 272 hectares of land from being “torn away” from the agricultural zone, in his words.
It was finally by government decree in 2007, and despite an unfavorable opinion from the CPTAQ, that the land was excluded from the agricultural domain to allow this project. The government of Pauline Marois confirmed the abandonment of the project in 2013, but the land was not returned to the agricultural zone, which the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) recently deplored again.
In June, the City of Lévis nimbly adopted a resolution to acquire half of the Rabaska land by expropriation, also coveted by the Port of Quebec.
Mr. Gosselin now fears that a project similar to Rabaska will be resurrected: “We still feel at the mercy of decisions that are made without our knowledge. There is an urgent need to include this land in agricultural territory, so that we can be protected from projects of which we have no idea. »
He points out that the Quebec government has already rejected the GNL Québec project in 2021, whose natural gas liquefaction plant was not located in an agricultural zone in Saguenay.