Factory project in Montérégie | The Northvolt field under the magnifying glass

Filling of wetlands, felling of thousands of trees, discharge of water into the Richelieu River: the Northvolt giga-battery cell factory project, in Montérégie, will have “major” environmental impacts, according to government scientists Quebecois. The available data allows them to be visualized.

Oaks and hickories

Northvolt will install its most important buildings as well as its parking lots in the northeast part of its land, the most densely wooded sector of the site where two-tone oaks and shagbark hickories have been recorded, two trees that particularly appreciate moist soils and which are typical of the St. Lawrence River valley. Other buildings will also be constructed in the southeast portion of the land. This is also where Northvolt plans to build a battery recycling plant, a project which will be studied by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE). More than 14,000 trees will be cut down.

Precarious species

More than 142 species of birds, including 14 with a precarious status, frequent the 171 hectare (1.71 km^⁠2), noted scientists from the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP), in a wildlife advisory produced in October. “There are notably aquatic birds (least bittern, lesser yellowlegs), passerines (eastern wood-pewee, wood thrush, chimney swift, barn swallow, bank swallow) and birds of prey (bald eagle, peregrine falcon),” they listed. Four species of bats with a precarious status were also observed.

Backfilled pond

Northvolt plans to fill in a pond used by the snapping turtle and the painted turtle, and potentially by the spiny softshell turtle, despite the objections of MELCCFP scientists, warning of the “permanent loss of a suitable habitat for these species at precarious status “. In total, the Northvolt project provides for the destruction of 61 of the 92 wetlands on the site, including marshes, ponds, tree swamps and shrub swamps. The “permanent loss” of wetlands is estimated at 138,162 square meters (m^⁠2), on the 237,770 m^⁠2 present before the work.

Protected environments

Northvolt has the obligation to protect 50 hectares of natural environments on its land, under the authorization granted to it by Quebec. This is half of what the MELCCFP scientists recommended in their wildlife opinion. “Residual natural environments should be of adequate size (more than 100 ha) in order to maintain habitat quality for wildlife biodiversity,” they wrote. In fact, Northvolt claims that it will leave 76 hectares of natural environments intact, including the northwest portion of its land, a less wooded sector where most of the water environments and part of the wetlands on the site are located.

Least bittern

The “wetland complex” used by the least bittern, the smallest heron in North America, is part of the sector that will be protected by Northvolt, as recommended by MELCCFP scientists. “The species is extremely sensitive to disturbance,” they wrote. Human disturbance hinders the adults’ search for food and causes the abandonment of nests, causing a drop in recruitment at the site”, we can read in their wildlife opinion, which deplores in passing that the Northvolt project does not include ” plan concerning the conservation aspect.

Water discharges

Northvolt plans to take and discharge water from the Richelieu River, but this sector constitutes part of the critical habitat of the copper redhorse, a fish unique to Quebec and threatened with extinction. “The location of the water intake and the cooling water discharge zone into the river can have an impact on species with a precarious status in the sector,” wrote the MELCCFP scientists, deploring that the information on this subject are “missing” in the company’s documents. A City of Otterburn Park drinking water intake is also located in this sector of the river.