The Northvolt recycling plant project could lead to a long list of environmental and social impacts, according to what emerges from the project notice submitted by the company with a view to carrying out the impact study which is required for this phase of the megaproject financed by Quebec and Ottawa.
For the first time since the announcement of the Northvolt project, the company must disclose in advance the list of “anticipated effects” of its factory, which will be subject to the environmental procedure which applies to all major industrial projects in Quebec.
This list including the potential impacts linked to the construction and operation of the Revolt battery recycling plant can be found in the “project notice” filed with the Quebec Ministry of the Environment in April, but only made public Friday afternoon on the Environmental Assessment Registry. It reports “briefly detailed” effects for the physical, biological and human environments.
During the construction phase, the document mentions a “change in air quality”, a “deterioration in the quality of surface water”, an “increase in ambient noise”, an “increase in road traffic” and “encroachment on wetlands”. It also mentions: “disturbance and impact on wildlife, including fish, turtles, birds, and their habitats”. The Northvolt site was previously home to rich biodiversity, including threatened species.
“Health impacts”
During the “operation” of this phase of the Northvolt project, the only one to be subject to the carrying out of an impact study, the opinion mentions “impacts on health resulting from the degradation of the environment (air, soil, water)”, “concerns regarding public safety (technological risks)”, “change in air quality”, “increase in ambient noise”, “degradation of surface water quality” and “pressures on housing stock and public services”.
“The impact study will therefore address in a documented and detailed manner the potential impacts of construction and operating activities on the components of the physical, biological and human environment so as to validate them and, where necessary, plan suitable methods of construction and mitigation measures to reduce or minimize the inevitable impacts on the environment,” specifies the company in its project notice of a dozen pages.
According to the timetable mentioned by Northvolt, the impact study would be submitted by the end of the year and it is estimated that the report from the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment will be submitted in August 2025. The decree authorizing the project should follow in the fall of the same year, according to the company.
Northvolt will first have to respond to the “directive” from the Ministry of the Environment, which specifies the elements that must be part of the impact study: issues for biodiversity, water protection, management of contaminated soil, choice of site , choice of technology, industrial processes, social acceptability, impact on the local environment, road traffic in the area, mitigation measures for the various anticipated impacts, etc.
Upcoming authorizations
Before launching recycling operations, which could begin in 2027, Northvolt submitted an authorization request to build its battery “gigafactory” on the site where it has razed wooded areas and filled in wetlands.
She also requested authorization to excavate contaminated soil from certain wetlands. The Ministry of the Environment, which is currently analyzing the request and which must authorize the work, is however unaware of the levels of soil contamination and the volumes that would be excavated.
The company has also submitted a request to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to be able to drain rainwater from the site of its future factory, which contains contaminated soil, into the Richelieu River.
All these requests are currently being analyzed. She will still have to obtain several environmental authorizations as part of her project. This is in fact evaluated as the company submits requests, due to the absence of an environmental procedure which includes, as is usually the practice in Quebec for large industrial projects, a study impact of the project.
Northvolt, however, promises that it will publish the documents submitted to the government with a view to obtaining the various authorizations, but only once these have been granted. The company says it does so in the name of “serenity” in its analysis.