After receiving the green light from the Supreme Court to resume work, Northvolt received approval from Saint-Basile-le-Grand to begin land preparation work for the construction of its battery factory.
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The municipality granted permission to the Swedish company, which will begin work on its site on Wednesday. This includes filling part of the wetlands located on the first building on the site.
“Note that no special status turtle species was observed in the affected environments,” the company said in a news release on Tuesday.
Around a hundred trucks are expected to drive to the construction site every day.
“Routes have been set up to minimize the impact on traffic, taking into account peak times and coexistence with other road users,” the company assured.
Trucks will take part of Route 223 in McMasterville as well as Rue Bernard-Pilon to reach Route 116.
Northvolt also recalled that it had already received environmental approval from the Ministry of Environment, Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP) “after a thorough demonstration with experts”.
The project has been drawing the ire of citizens and environmental groups for several weeks. They denounce the destruction of wetlands on the site of the future factory.
They had decided to file an application for an injunction to stop work at the site, which was ultimately rejected by the Quebec Superior Court.