2024-02-29 01:35:13
A majority of Quebecers disapprove of the Legault government’s decision to change environmental regulations before the announcement of the Northvolt project, which allowed the future “giga factory” to escape the evaluation normally imposed on large industrial complexes like the one that will be built in Montérégie. The government nevertheless rejected once more on Wednesday the idea of imposing such a review.
According to a new survey commissioned by eight environmental groups, 53% of Quebecers “disagree” with the government’s decision to modify the regulations which previously provided that a project like Northvolt would automatically be subject to a complete evaluation procedure, including an impact study and an examination under the aegis of the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE).
In the case of Northvolt, the factory would be subject to it if it had an annual production capacity of at least 60,000 metric tons. This threshold was set at 50,000 tonnes until last July, but it was modified by the Legault government. The factory plans an annual production of 56,000 tonnes.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, defended the decision to modify the rules approximately two months before the announcement of the megaproject supported and financed by the CAQ government. “I can assure you that there was no grand conspiracy to benefit Northvolt,” he said. Some journalists and opposition parties claim that the rules were changed so that Northvolt might avoid a BAPE. I hope you understand that this is completely false. »
Mr. Fitzgibbon acknowledged that his government has set a standard that ensures that Northvolt’s production of cathode, established at 56,000 metric tons, exempts the company from having to submit to a BAPE. “It is true that the BAPE threshold for the production of cathode is higher than that for the production of Northvolt,” he declared, while criticizing in passing “a certain form of journalists, activist journalists” .
For the BAPE
The results of this survey are in line with a survey commissioned by Northvolt, and published earlier this week, regarding the relevance of mandating the BAPE to analyze this project before authorizing it. In total, 68% of the 1,122 people surveyed across the province are in favor of holding a BAPE.
Some 67% of the 500 respondents to the survey commissioned by the company and conducted among citizens of six towns in Montérégie were in favor of such an examination, a common practice in Quebec for large projects that can have environmental and social impacts.
Even if two polls indicate that Quebecers are in favor of a BAPE, the office of the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, closed the door once more on Wednesday.
“Quebec has one of the most rigorous environmental assessment frameworks in North America. The environmental analysis carried out by [le] ministry is no exception. Environmental standards are the same, regardless of the procedure to be followed, and for all companies. I would like to remind you that the company will have to submit to the BAPE for the phase relating to the recycling of battery materials,” it was argued in a written response.
And according to the environmental groups who commissioned the survey published Wednesday, “with nearly one in five respondents saying they are undecided regarding the project, the government would have every advantage in ensuring that the population is better informed of the proponents and outcomes of the latter”. Currently, it is impossible to know the details of the project analyzed by the government with a view to authorizing it.
The organizations believe that “by playing with regulations, the government has created distrust in its decisions and the projects it proposes”. According to the groups, Minister Benoit Charette “can and must use his discretionary power to trigger a BAPE evaluation” for the Northvolt project by the March 22 deadline.
On February 24, 2024, Pallas Data surveyed a random sample of 1,122 people aged 18 or over living in the province of Quebec. The poll’s margin of error is ±2.9%, at a 95% confidence level.
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