Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette sent “a very bad message” by confirming that the Legault government had voluntarily chosen not to subject Northvolt to the environmental procedure imposed on large industrial projects, including a review by the Bureau public hearings on the environment (BAPE). This is what Jean Baril, a lawyer specializing in the environment and author of the book, says The BAPE in front of the citizens.
“The minister is sending a very bad message and he is showing a lack of understanding of what the BAPE and public participation are. The BAPE is one of the rare institutions in Quebec that enjoys great respect. And internationally, it is a model. But the government seems to think that this organization, which has a maximum of four months to analyze a project, would keep investments away,” he argues in an interview with Duty.
Minister Benoit Charette finally admitted last week that the CAQ government feared that, despite the seven billion dollars in public funds promised to Northvolt, the company would choose to locate its factory elsewhere if the government imposed the environmental procedure on it. would have led to an examination of the BAPE. Mr. Charette at the same time affirmed that this way of doing things would have resulted in delays of 18 to 24 months.
“If we are talking about delays of several months, it is not because of the BAPE. It is the promoters, who must carry out their impact study, and the experts from the ministries, who must analyze it. These things take time. But if we wanted to go faster, that would mean not having any consideration for the environment,” replies Jean Baril.
The BAPE specifies, by email, that the duration of the entire procedure “can vary from 13 to 18 months depending on the type of project”. But with regard to the BAPE commission of inquiry, “the duration of a public hearing is 4 months, which includes the first part reserved for questioning, the second part reserved for the expression of points of view of citizens, as well as the drafting and submission of the report to the Minister.
Study
Such a procedure would involve the company producing an impact study of its project which would have analyzed the issues for biodiversity, water protection, contaminated soil management, choice of site, choice of technology, industrial processes, social acceptability, impact on the local environment and mitigation measures for the various anticipated impacts.
Subsequently, the minister mandates the BAPE to hold public hearings, with the aim of consulting the population and producing a report, which represents a delay of four months. However, there is a faster procedure, which involves targeted audiences. Deadlines are then reduced to 3 months.
The Quebec Ministry of the Environment specifies that the first exchanges between officials and Northvolt date back to 1er May 2023, several months after the start of procedures with the government. This means that a good part of the environmental process would already be completed, underlines Jean Baril. “If the government had said that it believed in the project, to the point of putting billions of dollars in public funding into it, and that it did not want to adapt the regulations to make life easier for Northvolt, the company would have done like all promoters, and it would have submitted its impact study. And we would already have part of the work done. »
However, due to the exclusion of the BAPE, Northvolt can proceed with the stages of its project without being able to have an overall view of it, deplores Jean Baril, who is a retired professor from the Department of Legal Sciences of the ‘UQAM. The government is currently analyzing a request for the construction of the first buildings. Despite a request for access to information, The duty was unable to obtain all of the information filed by the company. The resulting document was partially redacted, at Northvolt’s request.
The application to pump and discharge water into the Richelieu River will be presented later. Full information regarding these different stages is published once the government has granted the requested authorizations. In the case of wetlands and wooded areas of the site, the government published the opinion of its experts highlighting the “high ecological value” after authorizing the destruction of green spaces.
The duty also revealed last month that Northvolt could achieve significant milestones of the industrial megaproject without even having to obtain ministerial authorization. This simplified procedure is authorized by the Quebec Ministry of the Environment.
Mr. Baril, who has been following the development of environmental law in Quebec for several years, also believes that there is constant pressure from the business world for fewer projects to be subject to the BAPE. In this context, Minister Benoit Charette, according to him, sent a message which could provide them with arguments to return to the charge. “Quebec’s largest industrial project, which destroys wetlands and the habitat of threatened species, is not subject to the evaluation procedure. Why wouldn’t other promoters ask to review the thresholds to escape them too? »
Minister Charette also mentioned last week the Legault government’s desire to review the operation of the BAPE. “Over the coming months, we will look at how to hold our BAPEs,” he said, raising the idea of shortening the deadlines to “improve this procedure”.