(Quebec) Pierre Fitzgibbon maintains that the Northvolt mega-factory project was not entitled to preferential treatment to avoid an examination by the BAPE, despite the declarations of his colleague at the Environment who affirms that the project would have been derailed if he had had to undergo the exercise.
What there is to know
- In interview at The Press last week, the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, affirmed that the Northvolt plant project would not have seen the light of day in Quebec if it had been subject to a BAPE review because that would have prolonged the 18 month process.
- Despite these revelations, Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon maintains that Northvolt did not have an environmental privilege to avoid holding a BAPE.
- Minister Fitzgibbon explains the regulatory changes due to the creation of the battery sector in Quebec.
The Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy nevertheless recognized that the Legault government “should have been clearer” on the environmental process to which the Swedish company will be subject to to build a battery cell factory in Montérégie.
“The BAPE rules did not exist in the battery sector,” defended the minister in an interview with The Press, Monday. He reaffirmed that it is “false” to claim that Quebec “changed the rules to accommodate” Northvolt.
“There were no criteria, no knowledge of the battery industry. […] The BAPE rules for automobiles were for carburetors, it was not related,” argued Mr. Fitzgibbon.
However, in an interview tour last week, his colleague Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment, revealed that Northvolt would not have made Quebec its home if the company had been subjected to a complete review of the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE).
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette
“If I had said [aux dirigeants de] Northvolt at the time that a BAPE would take us 18 months before we could give them an idea of what would be possible, we would not have had a project in Quebec. It’s as simple as that,” Mr. Charette told The Press1.
A second regulatory change
The Press revealed at the same time that as part of a regulatory change, in April 2023, Northvolt also asked Quebec to raise a second threshold, concerning the annual battery production capacity.
François Legault’s government planned to set it at 30 gigawatt hours (GWh), while the company suggested 40 GWh. Quebec ultimately rejected this regulatory threshold, saying it was incapable of assessing the real risk.
There were consultations [du ministère de l’Environnement] which did not prove conclusive.
Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy
This is in addition to the new requirements specific to the manufacture of energy storage equipment, which now provide for a BAPE assessment for any project exceeding an annual production of 60,000 tonnes. Northvolt plans annual production of 56,000 tonnes.
Before the modification, which came into force in July 2023, the Northvolt project would have been covered by the regulations on the manufacture of chemical products, providing that any project exceeding an annual production of 50,000 tonnes had to undergo an assessment by the BAPE.
“There has been the insinuation that we have increased a threshold of [50 000 à 60 000 tonnes de production annuelle] to reach 56,000 [pour Northvolt]but it is true for the entire battery sector,” said Mr. Fitzgibbon, who cited the GM-POSCO and Ford-EcoPro projects.
“Environmental rules are respected,” he maintains. “What saddens me is that with the fact that there is no BAPE, there are people who [nous] intend to say that we are going to allow things that are not ecologically acceptable, which is not the case. »
The standards will remain the same, the way of getting there will be different.
Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy
Furthermore, in the minister’s office, we maintain that it is not certain that the Northvolt plant project would have been subject to a BAPE evaluation if the threshold of 50,000 tonnes had been maintained. “We created rules for a sector that did not exist,” said the director of communications, Mathieu St-Amand.
The minister also returned to his “lunch” with the president and CEO of Northvolt for North America, Paolo Cerruti, on February 6, 2023, before the company was included in the register of lobbyists. Two weeks later, on February 22, Quebec submitted its proposed regulatory modification.
“There were three, four jurisdictions competing for the project,” explains the minister. “I went to lunch […] to convince him to stay in Quebec. To think or insinuate […] that we wanted to subtract [le projet] to the BAPE rules, I find it distressing,” he pleads.
Better communication
Although he denies having anything to reproach himself for in the Northvolt case, Mr. Fitzgibbon admits that his government could have “communicated better” from the start.
He is nevertheless pleased that “activists and people who are more concerned” about the environment “criticize the government” and not the company. “The pressure is on the rest of us, it’s not serious. I’m passing through. The project will be done, it will be a good project,” he said.
In recent weeks, Pierre Fitzgibbon has also openly attacked “activist journalists”, whom he accuses of disinformation about the Northvolt factory project.
With the collaboration of Henri Ouellette-Vézina and Jean-Thomas Léveillé, The Press
1. Read “Northvolt mega-factory: “We wouldn’t have had a project” with a BAPE, says Benoit Charette”