Quebec on Friday gave its authorization to the first phase of the Ray-Mont Logistiques container transshipment project in eastern Montreal. Some restrictions will likely be imposed on the company, but the project is facing strong opposition.
The authorization granted by the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks covers the operation of an intermodal logistics platform including the handling and storage of full and empty containers. The authorization specifies that the activities will be carried out on the paved portion of the site located at 5227, rue Notre-Dame Est.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, strongly denounced the government’s decision. No impact or noise study has been made public in this case and the project does not obtain social acceptability, he maintains.
Phases 2 and 3 of the project are likely to cause even more vibrations, noise, dust and truck traffic in eastern Montreal, said the PQ leader, who is calling for an analysis by the Bureau d’audiences publiques on the environment (BAPE) for the entire project. “Once again, the east end of Montreal suffers. Worse still, the current project, which allows the storage of 5,000 containers, concerns only 10% of the land. The promoter intends to increase its activities in phases 2 and 3,” he commented in a press release.
Last April, the Quebec Ministry of the Environment told Ray-Mont Logistiques that the company had to submit “a request for ministerial authorization” and obtain it beforehand to implement and operate “phase 1” of its intermodal platform project.
This first phase of the industrial project provides for the establishment of two activities, “either trucking, as well as the handling and storage of containers”, has already indicated to the To have to the Ministry. As this phase of the project “will notably contribute to the sound environment of the sector and as noise is considered to be an environmental contaminant”, ministerial authorization was required.
During an inspection carried out on March 21, 2022 following a complaint, the ministry had previously noted that the developer, who had laid an asphalt surface on a portion of the site in August 2021, had then started activities. affected by the project by starting to use this surface for the purposes of trucking, handling and storage of containers. This observation led to the issuance of a notice of non-compliance on April 4, 2022.
Remember that Ray-Mont Logistiques planned to open a container transshipment business on its site that would operate 24 hours a day, less than 100 meters from a residential area. However, the certificate of authorization issued by the government could impose certain restrictions to this effect.
The platform will also include the stacking of a maximum of 10,000 containers on site, with a view to exporting them by ship, and 1,000 semi-trailer truck passes each day.
Despite repeated requests from residents of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the Legault government refused to submit the project to an environmental assessment of all the impacts of this industrial project located on the edge of a residential area. Such a review could have been conducted by the BAPE.
Previously, the Quebec Court of Appeal also obliged the City of Montreal to provide the municipal authorizations that the promoter was requesting. The latter nevertheless initiated a lawsuit of 373 million dollars against the City because of the long delays in granting him an authorization.
Further details will follow.