Opponents of the Northvolt battery factory project in Saint-Basile-le-Grand in Montérégie have claimed an act of “sabotage” on the site. The hearing on the application for an injunction to prevent the work has been postponed again.
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“Steel bars and nails were inserted into several hundred trees on the land in an attempt to prevent their imminent cutting by the company. While having minimal impact on tree health, these metal objects hinder the cutting of trees by heavy machinery. In order to ensure the safety of the people hired to raze the forest, the studded trees were marked with an aerosol and posters explaining the tactic were put up,” we can read in an anonymous email sent to the QMI Agency in at night from Monday to Tuesday.
Photo obtained by TVA Nouvelles
These opponents of the project denounce “all the hypocrisy of François Legault who called for more ambition to safeguard biodiversity”.
- Listen to Yasmine Abdelfadel’s news editorial via QUB :
“Financing 7.3 billion dollars in public aid for a project which aims to destroy the habitat of 142 species of birds, some of which are threatened, is the complete opposite of safeguarding biodiversity,” declared a anonymous activist.
Photo obtained by TVA Nouvelles
During the morning, the Northvolt company confirmed that “individuals entered the site to insert nails into around a hundred trees”.
“We deplore the use of this type of tactic which carries significant risks for the safety of workers and neighboring communities, while making the recovery of trees impossible,” we can also read.
- Listen to the political meeting between Antoine Robitaille and Benoît Dutrizac via QUB :
Hearing postponed
The hearing of the Superior Court of Quebec which must examine the request for an injunction from the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE) will finally take place Wednesday morning. This is the second time the hearing has been postponed.
“Following the request made by the City of St-Basile-le-Grand and after the parties have reached an agreement, the hearing is postponed to January 24, 2024 at 9 a.m. Out of respect for the ongoing legal process, we will not comment on it before the case has been heard,” the Swedish company said in a press release.
Photo obtained by TVA Nouvelles
In the meantime, work on the site remains suspended.
The CQDE, supported by three citizens, announced last Thursday that it had filed a request for an injunction in the Superior Court of Quebec to stop the work, deploring the fact that “the destruction of wetlands in the same location was refused within the framework of of a previous draft” and considering that there seemed to be a case of “double standards”.
Remember that Northvolt plans to cut down 8,730 living trees and remove 5,365 dead trees on the land of its future factory in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, on the South Shore of Montreal.