Northvolt targeted by a request for an injunction | The battery industry

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The Northvolt Six complex will be built on the edge of municipalities of Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville.

The Canadian Press

The Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE) and three citizens filed a request for an injunction before the Superior Court on Thursday to demand the immediate suspension of work on the battery factory project Northvolt, in Montérégie.

Tree felling work began this week on the site of the future factory in McMasterville and Saint-Basile-le-Grand, after the Ministry of the Environment authorized last week the start of construction work on the factory.

In a press release released Thursday, the CQDE requests the suspension of this work which is worrying for biodiversity. The hearing on this appeal should take place Friday morning at the Montreal courthouse, according to the press release.

The CQDE lawyers argue that a few months ago, the destruction of wetlands in the same location had been refused within the framework of another project and that ministry experts spoke at the time of the importance of these environments for the region and for biodiversity.

< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">Which makes the CQDE say that there seem to be double standards.

The battery sector

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The battery sector

Consult the complete file

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As the situation requires an urgent response for the protection of the environment, we are now turning to the courts. We regret having to go this far, but the ongoing destruction, without adequate response to public concerns, forces us to act quickly, indicates Marc Bishai, lawyer at the CQDE.< /p>

The Northvolt file perfectly illustrates the importance of having a public environmental register, provided for by law since 2018.

If this register existed, the public would already have access in a single click to the documents describing the authorized project and the conditions imposed on it by the Minister of the Environment, wrote the CQDE, adding that&#x27 Currently you have to wait for a response to a request for access to information, which can take weeks, while work is already underway in the field and there is no ;#x27;there has been no independent environmental assessment allowing for meaningful public participation.

L' Article 118.5 of the Environment Quality Act (LQE) stipulates that the Minister of the Environment must keep a public register containing a wide range of information on industrial projects and activities.

For example, the register must contain the description and source of the contaminants caused by a project or the conditions that a promoter must respect or the prohibitions and specific standards applicable to carrying out the activity.

But six years after the entry into force of the law, the register which must list the authorizations requested or granted still does not exist.

C&#x27 It is unacceptable that the public register is still waiting while the destruction of sensitive environments is carried out in opacity.

A quote from Me Marc Bishai, lawyer at the CQDE

This access to information is all the more important, according to him, as the construction of the ;#x27;Northvolt plant was not subject to the examination and assessment procedure of environmental impacts, including public hearings before the BAPE.

A regulation was modified last February by Quebec to allow the Northvolt project to escape a examination of the BAPE, according to information first relayed by Radio-Canada.

Production capacity of the plant would be 56,000 metric tons, while the Regulations relating to the assessment and examination of the environmental impacts of certain projects have been amended to to avoid a BAPE assessment for battery factories that produce 60,000 metric tons or less.