Photo: Jacques Boissinot La Presse canadienne «M. Charette est le ministre québécois de l’Environnement, mais il ne protège ni le Québec ni l’environnement», a déploré mercredi la porte-parole de Québec solidaire en matière d’environnement, Alejandra Zaga Mendez.
By exempting the Northvolt Six project from audits by the Bureau d'audiences publique sur l'environnement (BAPE) to attract its promoter to Quebec, Minister Benoit Charette failed to fulfill his main task: that of protecting the environment, the groups believe. opposition in the National Assembly.
“We knew the CAQ government was insensitive to environmental issues and the climate crisis, but at this point, it’s surreal,” thundered the spokesperson for the official liberal opposition on Wednesday in in the fight against climate change, Virginie Dufour. She had just heard the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, admit that Northvolt would never have chosen Quebec if it had been subject to a BAPE examination.
During a round of interviews Tuesday and Wednesday morning, the elected representative of the Coalition Avenir Québec agreed to have “adapted Quebec environmental regulations” to allow projects in the battery sector to be exempt from the process of BAPE analysis. All this in the context of a “global race” in the production of batteries and electric cars.
Find out more
- Quebec is “lucky” to welcome Northvolt, says Benoit Charette
- On video | What you need to know about the controversial Northvolt project
The “giga-factory” of the Swedish company Northvolt is one of the projects which will not come under the microscope of the independent environmental hearing body, despite its location on land rich in biodiversity straddling McMasterville and Sainte -Basil the Great.
With a BAPE, “it is certain [that Northvolt] would have chosen another location to set up,” said Mr. Charette in an interview on Radio-Canada radio on Wednesday, adding that the whole process would have taken at least 18 months. Interview requests from Devoir were declined.
Quebecers “misled”
“Mr. Charette is the Quebec Minister of the Environment, but he does not protect Quebec or the environment,” lamented the spokesperson for Québec solidaire in a press release on Wednesday. subject, Alejandra Zaga Mendez.
“Once again, [it] puts Quebecers before a false dilemma. The energy transition can and must be achieved, but social acceptability and respect for environmental standards must be there,” she said, while reiterating her request to see Northvolt submitted once and for all to the BAPE.
During a speech in Quebec last week, the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, questioned reports which indicated that Quebec had modified its regulations to allow Northvolt to avoid a lengthy environmental assessment process. . “Certain journalists and opposition parties claim that the rules were changed so that Northvolt could avoid a BAPE. I hope you understand that this is completely false,” he said.
“The minister [Charette] admits to having misled Quebecers for weeks about the change in the rules. He admits that Northvolt obtained all the desired privileges,” replied the PQ environmental critic, Joël Arseneau, in a written statement sent on Wednesday. “[He] proves through his declarations that he is denying his responsibilities to protect the environment, to ensure the conservation and development of biodiversity and to play a key role in the climate transition, from a sustainable perspective, to play the cheerleaders of manufacturing development. »
Before environmental rules changed in February 2023, a project like Northvolt would have been subject to the procedure as a “chemical manufacturing” plant. In this category, companies whose annual production capacity exceeds 50,000 tonnes are automatically subject to a BAPE examination.
However, the regulatory changes by the Legault government have created a new category of factories: those that produce “energy storage equipment”. For these, the BAPE threshold has increased to 60,000 tonnes. Northvolt will have a capacity of approximately 56,000 tonnes.