Voices continue to be heard calling for the Northvolt battery factory project in Montérégie to be examined by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE), something that Prime Minister François Legault has so far brushed aside. But what message is the government sending when it wants to exclude the largest private industrial project in Quebec’s history from the environmental review process?
Announced with much fanfare by Quebec and Ottawa, who agreed on a total of $7.3 billion (New Window), Northvolt’s electric vehicle battery mega-factory project has everything to like on paper. The Swedish company assures that it will produce electric batteries whose carbon footprint will be practically zero. Around 3,000 jobs will be created. And the province is positioning itself as a leader in the battery sector.
The downside: The project, whose site lies between Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville and is the size of 318 football fields, does not meet the criteria to automatically be subject to the BAPE assessment process.
The rules determining whether the megafactory should be subject to the process were changed a few months before the announcement. The threshold for producing cathodes was increased from 50,000 to 60,000 tons, while the Northvolt project envisages 56,000 tons.
Although the government assures that these changes in regulations have not been made to favor the arrival of Northvolt, Me Michel Bélanger, lawyer specialized in environmental law and former BAPE commissioner, does not believe this. I think the change was made for possible battery companies; If it wasn’t Northvolt, it could have been something else, he said.
By proceeding in this way, he continues, Quebec is deciding to change the rules to the benefit of a new industry… and to the detriment of others. “If we support a project like Northvolt with so much state money, it can seem unfair and insulting to other large industrial projects that fall under the regulation and have to follow the procedures,” notes Me Bélanger. This is a very bad signal to the industry in general.
While there is reason to be happy about the province’s commitment to green energy, the lawyer believes Premier Legault is also on the wrong track when he accuses environmentalists calling for a BAPE of not welcoming the project. That’s not the question, he says.
Of course we are happy that an electric battery factory is being built here, but we want to make sure that we do not ignore the rules.
BAPE, an obstacle?
Although the government has the power to order a formal environmental impact assessment to be carried out, it has so far ruled out the idea, citing regulations. Since the Swedish manufacturer’s arrival was announced at the end of September, citizens and organizations have called on Quebec to be more cautious and transparent.
For a government like that of François Legault, which has repeatedly expressed its desire to accelerate major projects, the BAPE process seems to be an exercise that it would rather not impose on the companies it supports, according to Me Bélanger.
In a letter published in the pages of the newspaper Le Devoir, which he co-signed with former presidents of the BAPE, the lawyer believes that the government is thereby discrediting a process that nevertheless makes it possible to determine the possible impact of a project on people and environment – and find ways to fix the problem.
This has been the case with successive governments, not just that of Mr Legault, he explains. They always portrayed BAPE as long and painful. It’s an obligatory passage that they’d rather not get in their way.
Environmental permits have always been viewed as burdensome by industry, economic development officials, and the governments that seek to promote them.
At the end of the process, it is not up to BAPE to approve a project or not. The final say lies with the government, which decides on the basis of the report submitted to it. However, the Bureau has the power to investigate and compel a project proponent to provide the documents necessary for the analysis of the project. It also assesses the social acceptability of a project.
In the impact study that triggers the BAPE process, the company must describe in detail its intentions, the environment in which its project will be implemented, the possible impacts on biodiversity but also on the quality of life of surrounding residents, as well as the measures it intends to take measures to mitigate their negative effects.
The great richness of the process lies entirely in this impact study, emphasizes Me Bélanger. This document is fundamental to ensure you have a good project.
Between the project sponsor and the ministry
Lawyer Camille Cloutier of the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE) believes that without a BAPE, Quebec deprives itself of the opportunity to better understand the public’s concerns – particularly those relating to the environment, heavy transport, etc. – and that improve project.
According to CQDE, the information sessions that Northvolt held with citizens living near the site of the future factory cannot replace the rigorous process of an environmental assessment. In addition, the BAPE offers the public the opportunity to ask questions of companies and authorities, gain access to documents and provide a second opinion.
What will result from these consultations? [organisées par Northvolt]? How will they affect the project? Are public concerns being taken into account? “We don’t know,” says Me Cloutier.
Without BAPE, citizens must expect to be excluded from the process, which will essentially take place between the Ministry of the Environment and the battery manufacturer. Communications, documents and data are exchanged between them, which is a big difference from the impact assessment process, in which the public is involved, she explains.
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Northvolt specializes in the production of lithium-ion battery cells. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Ivanoh Demers
However, the lack of BAPE does not mean that environmental standards are not being met, the government emphasized. The company must obtain permission to operate the site, which includes 52 acres of wetlands and several bird species, two of which are protected. However, the Environment Ministry’s approval process is less demanding in terms of monitoring activities, emphasizes Camille Cloutier.
As for the environmental standards mentioned by the government, lawyer Michel Bélanger asks: But which ones? In Quebec there is no legal framework that dictates how a battery factory should be set up! Although there are regulations, they are limited to designing the project in sections, he notes.
There is still time to act
The two lawyers are supporting environmental groups and pointing out that Quebec can still change its mind.
The Environmental Quality Act provides for exceptional circumstances, so that a project that escapes the BAPE due to a regulation – in this case one that sets the production threshold at 60,000 tonnes – may still be subject to it.
In particular, the government may subject it to the recommendation of the Minister for the Environment if it considers that the environmental problems that the project may raise are serious and public concerns justify it, or if the project involves a new technology or type of activity in Quebec and that significant environmental impacts are expected.
The promoter may also intervene and ask the Ministry to conduct a BAPE.
At this stage the circumstances exist which enable the Minister to recommend a BAPE to the Government. The government should not deprive itself of this instrument.
Although rare, this type of recourse was requested earlier this year by mining company Sayona for its Authier project at La Motte in Abitibi. In its original form, the lithium mining project near the world’s best drinking water escaped BAPE due to a regulatory threshold.
Quebec’s former minister of sustainable development, the environment and the fight against climate change, Liberal Isabelle Melançon, had also recommended that the developer submit its project to the evaluation process due to citizens’ concerns.
At the end of a multiple-reversal filing in which the project was ultimately revised to reduce maximum daily production capacity, the company stated that it would voluntarily submit to the BAPE process even if it were not more restricted.
According to Mr. Bélanger, Northvolt should follow the same path as Sayona and demonstrate the merits of its business. Whether it submits to BAPE will not change the regulation that other electric battery factories could avoid.
Nevertheless, it would be elegant if this initiative came directly from the project sponsor, notes the lawyer. If it is good, as he claims, the project would receive BAPE’s approval and citizens’ fears could be allayed.