We learn that the Ministry of the Environment has already given the green light to the Northvolt company to begin its work. It is with anger and fear that we observe this industrial project being deployed at high speed, without consideration or respect for both the population and the environment.
However, several legitimate questions have been raised for several months by many stakeholders. Why such a rush to begin work? Why is the population not consulted? What will be the social, environmental and economic impacts of the arrival of this giga-company in a territory with both rich and vulnerable biodiversity, according to the little data shared? For the moment, no precise answer has been put forward. We are completely ignoring the citizen mobilization and the petition requesting an investigation by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE), which has already collected more than 3,000 signatures.
This rush is very worrying. What project, what company deserves to have our laws, our regulations, our territory flouted?
Despite this overwhelming news, a slight hope remains. The municipality of Saint-Basile-le-Grand has not yet issued the permit to the company; it is the last legal barrier to avoid the hasty destruction of these natural spaces. In a report in TV news, the mayor affirmed that the City’s responsibility was to “ensure that environmental obligations are respected.” Now is the time to make sure! But for the moment, the population, not only local, but throughout Quebec, has the right to doubt and, above all, the right to know.
Several reasons to be concerned about the environmental impacts of this project fit together easily and logistically. From the outset, there is the issue of modifying the conditions of subjugation to the BAPE. This modification made by regulation a few months before the announcement of the project allows Northvolt to avoid being subject to a BAPE examination, which would normally have been obligatory, given the scale of the project and the standards that were until then applicable.
Moreover, three months before the approval of the Northvolt project, a permit was refused on this same site due to the environmental quality of the latter and under the Environment Quality Act and the Act concerning the conservation of wetlands and bodies of water. The proximity of the Richelieu River and the presence of several wetlands mentioned in this refusal are still just as important. Why do these laws no longer apply?
Note that the wildlife and flora inventories and habitat characterizations mention the richness of biodiversity as well as the presence of numerous vulnerable and threatened species under the Species at Risk Act. However, Northvolt hastens to begin its work before the migratory period, destroying important habitats without respect for the lives they support and bypassing real protection for migratory birds.
These examples clearly demonstrate that the environmental obligations regarding this project are not considered. We are counting on the elected officials of Saint-Basile-le-Grand to protect their territory and their population, but also the entire Richelieu basin! We are therefore asking the Saint-Basile-le-Grand municipal council to refuse the construction permit until the company has submitted its project to a complete impact study.
This territory has been polluted and exploited more than is acceptable. Now on the mend, it is home to rich biodiversity and habitats essential to it. Although the exit from fossil fuels is necessary and urgent, electrification must not be used as a pretext to once again destroy this territory without any transparent and complete impact study which would ensure that all environmental obligations are met. respected.
* This citizen initiative is supported by Mobilization 6600 Parc nature MHM; the Citizen Action Committee – Northvolt Project; the Quebec Network of Environmental Groups (RQGE); the Student Coalition for an Environmental and Social Shift (CEVES); the UNEplanète eco-citizen movement; the David Suzuki Foundation; the Ecotheque; the Eastern Littoral Citizens’ Table; Extinction Rebellion Quebec; Time to campaign; Climate rage; Mothers at the front of Rouyn-Noranda; Citizen lookout Port de Contrecoeur; Mothers at the Montreal Front.