The controversial project of three piggeries in Saint-Adelphe in Mauricie is suspended. The two initiators of the project, Patates Dolbec and Avantis-Olymel, decided on Monday to postpone their application for a building permit.
The construction of three new buildings each comprising 3,999 pigs has been causing controversy since its presentation to the citizens of the small municipality last December. For a total of 11,997 animals, this project was just below the bar of the number that triggers a review by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE). This addition circumvented “the spirit of the law” in the eyes of the instigator of a citizens’ committee Véronique Bégin, reported The duty, and several neighbors of the site deplored having been presented with a “fait accompli”.
The project was in fact already authorized by the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC). After this authorization, the promoter of a pig farm must apply for a building permit from the municipality, and the latter must hold a public consultation before issuing this permit. These consultations are decried throughout Quebec as an exercise without consequences, since the municipality is limited to being able to request mitigation measures from a list of five measures.
The concerns thus raised were “legitimate”, said Monday the general manager of Patates Dolbec, Hugo D’Astous. In interview at Duty earlier in January, he had explained that he had to carry out a study on the capacity of the groundwater table to supply the water installations of the pig buildings.
This stage of authorization of water withdrawal thus remained to be completed. The company decided to carry out this study before reapplying for a permit for the construction of the first building, bringing the schedule “beyond 2022”.
Mr. D’Astous also said he wanted to “obtain a higher level of social acceptance” and set up a consultation committee made up of independent experts, one of the demands of the citizens’ committee.
Patates Dolbec plans to use the manure produced by the pigs to fertilize land among the 10,000 acres it owns in the region.
For the general manager of pork production at Olymel, Marquis Roy, these new pig farms had several advantages, including that of “replacing obsolete buildings with more modern farms,” he reiterated on Monday. He claims to want to exceed the standards and regulatory requirements in force in Quebec, and thus “respond to the concerns of the neighborhood”.
One of the members of the citizens’ committee who contested the project, Véronique Bégin, confirms having discussed on Monday the creation of a committee around the projected breeding with the two companies, as well as the mayors of Saint-Adelphe and Saint- Ubalde. “I saw a great openness from Patates Dolbec and I’m very pleased to see that they too are concerned about the impact on the environment,” she said.
In particular, concerns around drinking water have been reported, as well as the pollution of adjacent waterways. Despite some improvements in recent years, the overwhelming majority of rivers in agricultural areas still have worrying phosphorus levels.
The committee that will meet next week will be made up of at least four citizens, representatives of the companies concerned, as well as specialists who have yet to be determined.
A twist that “pleasantly surprised” Ms. Bégin. “I continue to believe that the regulations amended in 2018 for the number of pigs must change”, she nevertheless specified.
In 2018, the threshold requiring a review by the BAPE for an addition of pigs went from 600 to 800 animal units, which represents a jump from 3,000 to 4,000 animals. This increase in the limit for exempting a project from the BAPE coincided with an increase in the number of authorizations granted by the MELCC for the creation or expansion of piggeries.