An old sand pit in Sainte-Marie-Salomé, which was used as a spillway for excavated soil from several large construction sites in the Laurentians, will finally be able to breathe. The Superior Court of Quebec ordered the immediate cessation of activities taking place there, in a judgment rendered last week.
Judge Pascale Nolin, of the Joliette courthouse, ordered the companies Démolition ATL, Valosphère and Trans-Dan “to cease and not resume all work” on the lots in the agricultural zone corresponding to the territory of the old sand pit, by an interlocutory injunction rendered on July 13.
The Court was responding to a request for an injunction made at the end of May by the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec (CPTAQ), which aimed to stop harmful spills on the premises.
Under the Act respecting the protection of agricultural territory and activities“the burying or importing of all types of materials”, including earth, rocks, gravel, waste or other materials are now prohibited on the site.
“The removal of materials, residual materials, the excavation of sand, the felling of trees or any drainage work” are also prohibited, unless the work is carried out with written authorization from the CPTAQ and carried out according to a corrective action plan approved by the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP).
Block access to the site
Les Fermes A. Collin, which owns the site, must “install and maintain in place a fence, a sentry box or a physical barrier at the entrance to the road leading to the old sand pit or to the entrance from any other path […] so as to prevent unauthorized vehicles or trucks from entering the sandpit site via the public road”.
“The CPTAQ’s mission is to protect the territory and agricultural activities of Quebec,” said its president, Stéphane Labrie, in a press release. It shares common objectives with the MELCCFP when it comes to avoiding environmental degradation and ensuring soil protection in agricultural areas. This collaboration between our two organizations demonstrates that the consequences that can be caused by embankment works such as those that took place in Sainte-Marie-Salomé are taken seriously. »
For more than a year, thousands of trucks transported the soil excavated from residential sites to the old sandpit, despite the protests of the mayor of the small town of 1,200 inhabitants, revealed a report by The Press published in May. The Ministry of the Environment had consequently found potentially harmful contaminants on site, whereas the site was once clean.
“The injunction thus obtained makes it possible to avoid any aggravation of the situation, while the legal proceedings are still in progress and other measures could be taken, in particular under the laws and regulations on the quality of the environment” , explains the CPTAQ.
With Vincent Larouche, The Press