Northvolt’s mega-factory project would have been derailed if it had had to undergo an assessment by the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE), according to the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette. His government also dropped another criterion which could have subject the Swedish company to a public evaluation, we learned The Press.
What there is to know
Holding a BAPE evaluation would have ensured that Northvolt would not set up in Quebec, according to Benoit Charette.
The Minister of the Environment says that holding a public assessment would have lengthened the process by at least 18 months.
Northvolt also asked Quebec to modify another threshold for being subject to a BAPE evaluation. This threshold was ultimately removed from regulation by Quebec.
“If I had said [aux dirigeants de] Northvolt at the time that a BAPE would take us 18 months before we could give them an idea of what would be possible, we would not have had a project in Quebec. It’s as simple as that,” argued Mr. Charette during a telephone interview on Tuesday.
According to him, time was running out and we had to act quickly on this issue. The minister indeed affirms that promoters like Northvolt “are being courted by several other states, while we are in a race for decarbonization”.
The minister also considers that the Northvolt project is essential to enable Quebec to achieve its target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37.5% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. .
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks
I don’t have 18 or 24 months to lose. I am six years away from having to deliver extremely ambitious objectives. We are in this race ourselves.
Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks
To citizens worried and suspicious of this position, the minister reminds that environmental studies have been carried out and will continue to be carried out at the Ministry of the Environment, even if the project is not subject to an evaluation by the BAPE.
“These evaluations that we do are among the strictest in the world. And for each of the stages, these evaluations will be required […] otherwise the factory will not see the light of day.
” Of the [évaluations du] BAPE, when the trigger criteria are not there, I have never asked for them, says Mr. Charette. And I can already tell you that I will never ask for one in the future in the same scenario either. It’s a question of predictability. »
Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks
As a general rule, the BAPE mechanism requires the promoter to present an impact study and answer questions from the public. The Bureau then transmits its recommendations to the government.
Northvolt is not subject to this procedure, except for the battery recycling plant it plans to build later, because it began its official steps towards authorization of its project in September 2023, after Quebec has changed the criteria under which such a project is subject to the BAPE.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
A demonstration took place on March 3 in front of the Montreal office of Prime Minister François Legault to demand an evaluation from the BAPE for the Northvolt mega-factory project.
Before the modification, which came into force in July 2023, the Northvolt project would have been covered by the regulations on the manufacture of chemical products, providing that any project exceeding an annual production of 50,000 tonnes had to undergo an assessment by the BAPE.
The modification replaced this criterion with new requirements specific to the manufacture of energy storage equipment, which provide for a BAPE evaluation for any project exceeding an annual production of 60,000 tonnes. Northvolt plans annual production of 56,000 tonnes.
Another criterion ruled out
MoreoverThe Press learned that as part of this regulatory modification, in April 2023, Northvolt also asked Quebec to modify “the battery production capacity threshold” according to which a project must go through the BAPE. Quebec planned to set it at 30 gigawatt hours (GWh), while the company suggested 40 GWh.
The company wanted to be able to produce its two types of battery cells – prismatic, similar to a videocassette, and cylindrical, which more closely resemble a traditional battery. The first requires production of around 15 GWh, while for the second, it is 20 GWh.
“Our production involves going above 30 gigawatt hours. This is why we proposed raising the threshold to 40 or 50,” explains Northvolt’s director of public affairs in North America, Laurent Therrien, on this subject.
But instead of raising the threshold, Quebec ultimately set aside this regulatory threshold, saying it was incapable of assessing the real risk. “It was the Ministry which saw fit to remove this variable. And he couldn’t establish an objective risk management measure. The logic was: how could we justify a variable if it has no basis in relation to the risk it creates? », Says Minister Benoit Charette.
At Northvolt, Mr. Therrien assures that his company “has nothing against the processes in place”.
We have nothing against a BAPE or Quebec regulations. That said, we very quickly mentioned to the government that our main constraint is one of time. We operate in a very competitive global context.
Laurent Therrien, director of public affairs for Northvolt in North America
“The BAPE asks you to do an impact study and then obtain a single permit, but during that time, you cannot start construction,” explains the director.
Exchanges from 2022
All this occurs when a little earlier, in mid-February, The Press revealed that Northvolt had held discussions with the Legault government without registering with the lobbyist register. Contrary to what the company claimed, these exchanges took place well before the government changed the rules to avoid an environmental assessment.
On November 23, 2022, first, a person representing Northvolt spoke with an industrial development advisor at the metallurgy and industrial products department of the Ministry and two employees of Investissement Québec.
Then, on February 6, 2023, Pierre Fitzgibbon himself had a “lunch” with the president and CEO of Northvolt for North America, Paolo Cerruti, indicates the agenda of the Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy.
Two weeks later, on February 22, Quebec tabled a proposed regulatory amendment having the effect of preventing the Northvolt project from being subject to a BAPE assessment. This timeline contradicts the CEO of Northvolt, who claimed not to have had any discussions with Quebec before this regulatory change. “This regulation was modified before our very first exchanges with Quebec,” assured Paolo Cerruti. We had nothing to do with it. »
With the collaboration of Jean-Thomas Léveillé, The Press