An anonymous group claims an “act of sabotage” was carried out on the site of the future Northvolt factory. In a statement released on Monday, activists claim they drove nails into trees to prevent them from being felled. The company confirmed the activists' gesture early Monday evening.
“We have taken the initiative to counteract this deforestation by inserting steel rods and nails into the tree trunks that are at risk due to the construction of the factory. While they have minimal impact on tree health, they pose a significant risk to heavy machinery,” the group said in its statement.
These types of measures, which can damage logging equipment, have already been used elsewhere in Canada and the United States by environmental activists to stop logging. However, we do not provide any information on the number of trees that would have been targeted or the sector of the site that would have been targeted.
The group says it wants to “weaponize the forest” while calling the battery component factory project a “destructive project” for biodiversity. “We must attack this machine for the destruction of living beings by targeting its weak points. Let's sabotage the equipment, block the construction sites, and harass elected officials on the industry's wages. The environmental movement must redouble its zeal,” he emphasized in his message.
He also denounces the public financial support given to this project in the context of “car culture”, at a time when “public transport companies are experiencing a wave of budget cuts”.
“We confirm that individuals entered the site to drive nails into approximately ten trees, posing a risk to the health of workers and neighboring communities while making the recovery of these trees impossible,” he told Northvolt via email early Monday Evening. Just over 8,000 trees need to be felled in the country.
Application for an interim injunction
Work to cut down trees and destroy wetlands on the site was halted last week after the Quebec Environmental Law Center filed a request for an interim injunction. The organization is calling for a halt to the work approved by the Legault government.
In the application for an injunction we highlight the fact that the Legault government last year refused to carry out a real estate project on the same site.
Experts from Quebec's Environment Ministry subsequently justified their decision by emphasizing the country's rich biodiversity, the essential nature of the natural environments for the region and the “impressive diversity” of fauna on the site. The data sent by the ministry to Le Devoir shows in particular the presence of 21 threatened or endangered species. At least 142 species of birds are common here, some of which are threatened.
The hearing scheduled for last Friday at the Montreal courthouse has been postponed until Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. Northvolt has committed not to resume tree felling before 3pm on Tuesday.