
The opposition events in Quebec Town are criticizing Surroundings Minister Benoit Charette, who explained to La Presse on Tuesday that the Northvolt battery plant would not have been crafted if the enterprise experienced experienced to post to a BAPE (environmental assessment).

Quebec Solidaire (QS) MNA Haroun Bouazzi condemned what he observed as “a wholesale destruction of the battery industry’s social acceptability by means of steps this sort of as these.”

Bouazzi believes that there is still time to established up a BAPE and states that this would not necessarily mean that Northvolt would leave Quebec. At the exact same time, he maintains that an accelerated procedure would be probable.

In an job interview with La Presse on Tuesday, the atmosphere minister claimed that a BAPE would have delayed the battery plant project far too lengthy, which would have compromised its completion. In accordance to Charette, it was very important to act rapidly if the authorities was to accomplish its GHG reduction targets.

Quebec is aiming to cut down its emissions by 37.5 per cent from 1990 amounts by 2030.

“The CAQ has develop into the project’s worst ally”

Liberal MNA Virginie Dufour welcomed the truth that the minister has “finally revealed some transparency” but maintains that “the social acceptability of the job carries on to decrease and this is due to the CAQ’s deficiency of transparency.”

“The CAQ has grow to be the project’s worst ally at the moment,” she reported.

In accordance to the MNA, there are nevertheless also several grey areas in this file and she is for that reason calling for an “urgent conference” with minister Charette: “If we could have a conference to very clear up the uncertainties so that we can all row in the similar route for this task,” she said in an job interview with The Canadian Push.

“Producing development cheerleaders”

According to PQ MNA Joël Arseneau, the minister “admits that he has been misleading Quebecers for months about the modify in the regulations. He admits that Northvolt acquired all the privileges it wished.

“By his statements, the Minister is proving that he is reneging on his obligations to protect the ecosystem, make certain the conservation and improvement of biodiversity and perform a essential job in the local climate transition, in a sustainable perspective, in get to engage in cheerleader for producing improvement,” he stated in a prepared assertion sent to The Canadian Push.

Charette defended himself on X Wednesday early morning.

“I will proceed to repeat that Quebec has just one of the most demanding environmental evaluation frameworks in North The usa. The absence of a BAPE for the initial stage of the Northvolt challenge in no way precludes the company’s compliance with expectations,” he wrote.

Restricted timetable

In a penned statement, Northvolt reported that “since the commencing of conversations with the governments of Quebec and Canada, we have been clear and clear about the project’s limited agenda and the situations for success joined to our institution in Quebec.”

“We are working in a context where by the ability to supply tasks on time is an necessary situation for success, and where international competitiveness is fierce, with China and the United States supplying huge subsidies for jobs like ours,” mentioned corporation spokesperson Laurent Therrien.

The controversy encompassing Northvolt’s proposed plant carries on to grow. In September 2023, Radio-Canada exposed that Quebec experienced lifted the minimum cathode producing threshold for a BAPE evaluation from 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes.

The Northvolt plant is predicted to generate 56,000 tonnes.

“We have not taken any ways to improve the thresholds previously in the polices. The short article about cathode lively product, which now sets the threshold at 60,000 tonnes, was the subject of a pre-session in December 2022, in which Northvolt did not take part,” stated Therrien.

Section 3 of Northvolt’s job — a battery recycling plant — will be matter to a BAPE overview.

What is BAPE?

“The BAPE’s mission is to notify federal government selection-making by transmitting to the minister liable for the atmosphere findings and viewpoints that consider into account the worries of the general public and are centered on the 16 rules of the Sustainable Progress Act,” reads the organization’s web-site.

The BAPE does not have the energy to authorize or refuse a job it is the federal government that tends to make the remaining determination.

This report by The Canadian Push was initially revealed in French on March 6, 2024.
