With the start of work on the site of the future Northvolt factory in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, several environmental groups are once again calling for an independent environmental assessment to be held. According to these organizations, “obstinately wanting to do without an independent environmental assessment could prove to be a costly gamble”.
The Swedish company began felling trees on Monday in preparation for the construction of its electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant. According to the daily The dutyNorthvolt obtained its tree felling permit last Friday from the town of Saint-Basile-le-Grand, south of Montreal.
Several environmental groups, including the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE), Équiterre, Nature Québec and the Society for Nature and Parks, Quebec section, recalled on Wednesday that this work began without there being any “a real environmental assessment”.
“An independent environmental assessment and public hearings are essential to protect citizens and the environment. They are also necessary to protect from itself a government that has become judge and party,” indicates the grouping of around ten organizations. He recalls that Quebec has at its disposal the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE), which can carry out an evaluation of the Northvolt project.
“Without an independent environmental assessment, the government will become a prisoner of the successive concessions it has made to date and who knows how far it will have to go in the face of the many obstacles that will undoubtedly arise in the future, such as the pumping of water in the habitat of the copper redhorse or the disturbance of the least bittern during the nesting period,” adds the press release published Wednesday by the environmental groups.
Remember that the Northvolt project benefits from public assistance from the federal and provincial governments totaling $7.3 billion.