As work to destroy wetlands and wooded areas accelerates on Northvolt land, the company announced Friday its intention to create a “community liaison committee” which will be established according to criteria set by it -even. This announcement comes two days before a demonstration in McMasterville to demand an environmental assessment.
As part of what it describes as a “citizen information approach”, Northvolt explained in a press release that it will create in the coming weeks a committee “whose constitution and operating mechanisms are inspired by good practices industry”, in order to “contribute” the citizens of the region “in monitoring the construction and operation activities of Northvolt Six”.
According to what the company specified by email, the committee in question will include around twenty people. “To form its committee, the company will pay particular attention to the representativeness of the different sectors of activity as well as the diversity of opinions. The members of the committee must be engaged in their community, sensitive to the collective interest and see added value in establishing a good relationship between Northvolt Six and the community,” it was explained in the press release.
Moderator
The running of the “liaison committee” will be entrusted to an “external and neutral” moderator, who will also be responsible for choosing the eight citizens who will sit on this committee. Three representatives from Northvolt will also be present, in addition to elected officials and civil servants from Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville. Both municipalities are in favor of the project.
“Representatives of environmental groups from Montérégie and economic groups will also have a voice at the table,” specifies the company.
Why is the participation of environmental groups limited to those in the region, when several national groups intervened in the matter, mainly to demand an environmental assessment? “The objective of this committee is to integrate into our host environment and to listen to the concerns and expectations of the local community. In addition, we want to collaborate with local environmental groups because of their in-depth knowledge of the sector,” responds Northvolt, by email.
“Why limit the participation of environmental groups in Montérégie when this is a project of national scope and no restriction targets the participation of the economic sector? » asks the general director of the Society for Nature and Parks of Quebec, Alain Branchaud.
The latter welcomes a “first concrete step to open a real dialogue with civil society”, in the context where no public consultation took place before the green light for the factory project financed by public funds. “However, the staging of this consultation gives the impression of witnessing a form of privatization of the BAPE mandate,” deplores Mr. Branchaud.
Public consultation
If the project had been subject to the environmental procedure usually imposed on large industrial projects, a “public information period” would have followed the submission of the project impact study, therefore well before possible authorization of the project, specifies the lawyer Camille Cloutier, of the Quebec Environmental Law Center.
Independent public consultations would also have taken place as part of the review by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE). The organization also opens a “consultation center” in the region where the project takes place. Citizens can consult the documentation produced as part of the environmental assessment.
Me Cloutier also specifies that the Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Benoit Charette, could have demanded the establishment of a monitoring committee within the framework of the authorization granted on January 8 for the destruction of 138,000 m2 wetlands and the felling of 8,700 trees.
Northvolt submitted its second request for ministerial authorization in December, this time for the construction of the factory. The Quebec Ministry of the Environment refused this week to answer questions about this request. The information will be available later, but only “when a decision is made.”
The documentation — more than 2,400 pages — which was used to analyze the request for authorization for “intervention” in wetlands granted on January 8 was published this week. This documentation, obtained in large part by The duty over the last few months, allows us to understand the richness of the biodiversity found until now on the site.
The government’s decision to rule out any review of the BAPE for the first phases of the project was criticized by environmental law experts and environmental groups. A demonstration to once again demand an independent evaluation of Northvolt is planned for Sunday afternoon in McMasterville.