The Canadian Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, affirmed Friday that the construction of the Northvolt mega electric battery factory, in Saint-Basile-le-Grand on the South Shore of Montreal, did not worry him, in recalling that every project has an impact on the environment.
“If you ask me as a federal minister if the Northvolt project worries me: no, it does not worry me,” declared Minister Guilbeault on the sidelines of an event taking place in Montreal.
“It’s a major industrial project. We have done others and there are others like that in the country. But it is a project which, in the long term, will lead to very significant ecological benefits for the entire country. »
Thursday, the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE) filed a request for an injunction before the Superior Court of Quebec to demand the immediate cessation of the tree felling and destruction of wetlands work which had begun a few days ago on the site of the largest private industrial project in the history of Quebec.
The minister did not want to comment on the ongoing legal process. However, he recalled that no project receives unanimous support. “Someone tell me there is no social acceptability [pour ce projet]… I have never seen any measures, he said. It’s easy to use this concept [d’acceptabilité sociale] which is a very vague, fuzzy and undefined notion to say that the project should not be done. »
Accelerate the fight against climate change
The electrification of transportation — to which the Northvolt plant will contribute by producing battery components for electric vehicles — represents a giant step in the fight against climate change, believes Minister Guilbeault.
“The electrification of transportation is not the solution to climate change, but it is certainly one of the solutions,” he said. And those who claim that there are no benefits from switching, for example, from a gasoline car to an electric car are either misinformed or they are spreading misinformation. »
Faced with the emergency, there is a need to accelerate the fight against climate change, Minister Guilbeault reiterated. “How can we speed up our processes without short-circuiting the consultation that is necessary […] That’s a bit like our social challenge. »
Environmental assessments
The Legault government exempted the Northvolt project from the environmental assessment procedure generally used for large-scale industrial projects upon the announcement of the project in September 2023.
Data obtained by The duty from the Quebec Ministry of the Environment indicate the presence of 21 vulnerable or threatened species on the site of the mega factory. And at least 142 bird species, some of which are threatened, also frequent the 170-hectare site.
On the federal side, an evaluation by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada is underway “to see if federal laws should apply to this project.” indicated Minister Guilbeault.