Swedish company Northvolt, which will build a mega-factory in Montérégie, Quebec, must pass the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE) test for recycling battery materials, Radio-Canada has learned. Other phases of the project are not covered by this audit.
The future Northvolt plant is presented by Prime Minister François Legault as the most important industrial project in Quebec’s history and will be primarily dedicated to the production of battery cells for electric vehicles.
As Radio-Canada reported in September, this part of the project will avoid assessment by the BAPE thanks to a regulation change by Quebec.
However, in recent days the government has warned the company that another phase will be affected, namely that related to the recycling of battery materials.
Chemicals beyond the action threshold
On the site between Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, covering an area of 318 football fields, Northvolt will build a building where the raw materials from batteries at the end of their life will be recovered, in particular the lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese from which new ones should be made.
This activity could generate more than 50,000 tonnes of chemicals per year, which is above the threshold set by Quebec.
According to the project presented to us by the company itself, we exceed this limit, explains Environment Minister Benoit Charette. This allows us to trigger the BAPE environmental process for the battery recycling phase.
The independent government body will therefore be able to study the environmental impact of this phase of the project. It could hold public consultations inviting the public and experts to express their views. But above all, it is expected to produce a report.
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Benoit Charette claims that Quebec’s environmental assessment criteria are “among the strictest in the world.”
Photo: Radio-Canada
The BAPE cannot approve or reject a project. Rather, it sends recommendations to the government, which then has to decide.
“I have received several reports from BAPE in recent years and they are often recommendations for improvements,” explains Benoit Charette. It is rare for BAPE to say a categorical no to a project.
The environmental impact assessment process, which will begin in the coming years, may take up to 18 months, but everything indicates that it will not delay the start of production at the Northvolt factory, expected in 2026.
The minister wants to respect the criteria
In a first phase, the Swedish company will focus on the production of cathodes. It is expected that up to 56,000 tonnes per year can be produced, while the production threshold for triggering a BAPE review for this material category has been set at 60,000 tonnes.
“We don’t want to trigger BAPE if the criteria don’t require it,” decides the Environment Minister.
The law would actually have allowed him to do this, but he prefers to stick to the current regulations.
It is a power that has existed for several years. “There is no environment minister who has benefited from this and I don’t want to be the first for a very simple reason,” he said.
It is important for developers, but also for citizens, to know the criteria for triggering a BAPE. So if we were to use our discretionary power at any point, there would no longer be any reference.
He adds that the company has no obligations because there is no BAPE. There are several credentials that must be obtained by the company itself.
Quebec will organize two new public information sessions in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville in the coming weeks to answer citizens’ questions, in addition to the events already held by Northvolt.
The dates on which they will take place have not yet been determined.