The Parti Québécois is calling for a new investigation from the Auditor General (VG) into the Northvolt mega-factory project, this time in connection with the revelations of The Press according to which the government dropped another criterion that could have subjected the Swedish company to a public evaluation, all at its request.
“We wonder what scales the government has used to eliminate this threshold. And above all, does this kind of decision fluctuate according to demand and the financial or political interests behind it? “, said PQ MP Joël Arseneau, who sent a letter to the VG, Guylaine Leclerc, on Thursday.
Tuesday, The Press revealed that in April 2023, Northvolt asked Quebec to raise another threshold which determines whether or not a project is subject to an evaluation by the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE), during consultations on regulatory changes linked to the battery industry. At the time, the Order of Chemists for its part recommended maintaining the criteria having the effect of putting the Northvolt project before the BAPE.
Northvolt’s request related to its annual battery production capacity. The Legault government planned to set it at 30 gigawatt hours (GWh), while the company suggested 40 GWh, to meet the needs of its future factory.
However, instead of raising the threshold, Quebec ultimately eliminated it, saying it was incapable of assessing the real risk. “The logic was: how could we justify a variable if it has no basis in relation to the risk that it generates? », Said the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, in an interview.
This is in addition to a first modification by the government, which increased from 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes the total capacity beyond which any chemical product project must undergo a BAPE assessment.
In his letter, Mr. Arseneau states that these elements suggest that “preferential treatment would have been granted to Northvolt in this matter, in disregard of regular administrative practices, recognized environmental standards and objective analysis criteria which must apply the evaluation of all business projects submitted to the Ministry.
“Very random”
In an interview, Joël Arseneau adds that it is obvious to him that the process was done “very randomly and in a way that suited the project.” “It’s very worrying for us,” says the person who is spokesperson for the Parti Québécois on the environment.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
MP Joël Arseneau
This is the second request for an investigation from the VG made by his party in a few weeks. At the end of February, the PQ also asked Mme Leclerc to investigate after the publication of a Radio-Canada report according to which scientific justifications had disappeared in the analysis of the Northvolt project by the Ministry of the Environment.
The PQ’s first request was proposed through the Sustainable Development Commissioner, which is not the case for its second request.
Remember that other statements by Minister Benoit Charette revealed by The Press also sparked an outcry from both the opposition and environmental groups this week. The indignation was mainly focused around the fact that the minister declared that the Northvolt mega-factory project would have been derailed if it had had to undergo a BAPE evaluation.