The cat is out of the bag this week.
The government finally admitted to having modified its criteria, at the request of Northvolt, to avoid its green battery factory project being subject to an evaluation by the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE)1.
After having sworn to the contrary for months, after attacking journalists and environmentalists who asked legitimate questions, this forced admission shakes the confidence of the population who do not like being played behind their backs.
Why not have been transparent from the start?
After all, the population is relatively favorable to this project, even if it raises very real issues, such as the protection of wetlands. The public is aware of the importance of the energy transition and understands that Quebec has a golden opportunity to position itself in an industry of the future, a bet on which the State has bet billions of dollars.
But that’s no reason to skip steps. The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is in a hurry? Either ! Let’s pick up the pace. But not by blowing the whistle on citizens who would like to participate in the BAPE hearings, a process that is shorter than the Minister of the Environment suggests.
The green transition will take place with the population, not behind their backs. To restore confidence and build social acceptability, the government has no choice but to paint whiter than white. Greener than green.
Especially since Northvolt is only one link in the chain that will allow us to achieve our GHG reduction targets and fight against climate change. At each link, there will be risks of snagging.
Already, the extraction of metals necessary for the manufacture of batteries is raising major concerns in resort areas which are worried about the health of the lakes.
The ambitious development plan submitted by Hydro-Québec also raises very delicate issues. We want to build no less than 5,000 kilometers of high voltage lines whose pylons will disturb many communities. The construction of new hydroelectric dams is being considered, which arouses mistrust among indigenous communities.
Without social acceptability, discontent risks blocking projects, as we saw in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield where the construction of a wind farm was suspended in August, in the face of protest from the population shaken by deadlines too short.
Yes, there is an urgent need to act against climate change. But not just anyhow. Not without assessing the environmental impacts. It is a bit as if, faced with the urgency of finding a treatment for cancer, we abandoned the clinical studies necessary to measure the side effects of the drug. It wouldn’t make sense.
Environment Minister Benoit Charette explains that he did not have “18 or 24 months to lose” with a BAPE hearing in the Northvolt project.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette
But let’s be clear: a BAPE lasts four months. What takes the most time is the impact study that the company must produce beforehand and the ping-pong game with the Ministry which analyzes its file.
We could therefore move faster, without cutting corners, by optimizing bureaucracy (e.g.: carrying out certain steps in parallel with the BAPE, avoiding starting the analysis from scratch for similar projects in different regions).
To save time, Quebec could also ask the BAPE for a strategic environmental assessment covering the green transition plan as a whole. This would make it possible to iron out citizen opposition, upstream, and to establish common guidelines which would then speed up the analysis of individual projects.
These are healthy ways to move forward faster. Much healthier than changing the rules of the game piecemeal to favor a project in a biased way, as with Northvolt.
Eliminating the BAPE will not eliminate the protest. It will only fuel him.
For 45 years, the BAPE has been the forum that helps build social acceptability by channeling citizens’ concerns in an organized manner and finding solutions to improve projects.
An example ? The hearings for the construction of the Micoua-Saguenay high voltage line in 2019 put forward solutions to maximize regional economic benefits, improve collaboration with the Innu and better protect forest caribou and areas damp.
The BAPE is not there to put obstacles in the way, but to put oil in the gears by listening to citizens.
Moreover, three quarters of the projects submitted to the BAPE receive a favorable opinion (21%) or a mixed opinion with certain conditions (52%), according to a compilation of 223 projects ranging from 1979 to 2015, produced by professors Mario Gauthier and Louis Simard2.
Even if the government is not required to follow the advice of the BAPE, the exercise is far from being in vain.
If we want to involve the population in the green transition, we cannot avoid a public debate.
1. Read “Northvolt mega-factory: “We wouldn’t have had a project” with a BAPE, says Benoit Charette”
2. Read an extract from “Ecological Democracy” by Mario Gauthier and Louis Simard