2 South Shore mayors defended Northvolt without knowing environmental impact, letter shows

Despite their public endorsement of the Northvolt electric vehicle battery plant, the mayors of two communities on Montreal's South Shore were privately far from certain about their support of the project.

Yves Lessard and Martin Dulac, the mayors of Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville in the Montérégie region, have both expressed their support for the controversial $7-billion project, which straddles both municipalities.

"We welcome this arrival on our territory and we are confident that it will be an exemplary project in every respect," said Dulac last September at the announcement, posing alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier François Legault with a Northvolt battery in their hands.

In an interview with Radio-Canada, Dulac said he was "reassured" by Northvolt's "very clear" answers on the project's potential environmental impacts. 

But in a letter sent to Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette in January, obtained by Radio-Canada through an access to information request, the mayors revealed they knew virtually nothing about the environmental impacts of the proposed mega-factory. 

The mayors voiced their dissatisfaction with the lack of communication from Charette's ministry regarding the construction of Northvolt's plant.

"We are dismayed by your absence and silence, both in discussions with the authorities in our towns and in the public and media sphere," the letter reads.

The mayors say they've shown "considerable political courage" in trying to reassure residents and gain social acceptability for the project, all while having no answers to their own questions about its environmental impact — ones they say they've repeatedly asked from the ministry for months. 

Although he defended Northvolt to his residents before penning the letter, Lessard had publicly questioned the absence of an environmental review by the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE) for a project of this magnitude. 

Still, his municipality went ahead with initiating the process to grant a permit to the company in January.

Mayors defend their positions

Asked to clarify the differences between his public and private statements, the mayor of McMasterville said it was important that the ministry directly meet with residents to address their concerns about the environment impact of the project.

"We were satisfied with the answers we received, but it was not up to the city to take the place of the ministry in responding to environmental issues," Dulac said. 

For his part, the mayor of Saint-Basile-le-Grand said the purpose of the letter was to put pressure on the ministry to hold information sessions for residents of both municipalities — something the ministry had initially said would take place in November 2023, but ultimately happened at the end of February, a month after the letter was sent. 

During these sessions, officials with the Environment Ministry were unable to identify the potential pollutants Northvolt might release into the atmosphere or the river. 

Environment Ministry responds

In an email to Radio-Canada, the Environment Ministry said the judicialization of the project is what forced officials to postpone the information sessions, but it had set up a website in the meantime to address citizens' concerns. 

"The government ensures it supports and assists municipalities so they have all the necessary information to respond to their citizens' inquiries," the office said. 

Meanwhile, the mayors say the unanswered concerns raised by environmental groups about the impact of the project on wetlands, forests and rivers is "damaging the image of Northvolt and the credibility of our municipalities," Dulac and Lessard wrote.

"It is regrettable to see that your lack of transparency and leadership in this matter may deter foreign investors from proposing large-scale projects in Quebec," they wrote in their letter to Charette. 

In March, Charette acknowledged the government changed its rules regarding BAPE reports before approving the building of Northvolt — a move that experts say has hindered public trust.

Before the project was announced, the province increased the threshold of battery production needed to trigger a BAPE review, raising it to 60,000 tonnes a year from 50,000. 

Charette has said a full BAPE review would have taken 18 months and led the Swedish company to look elsewhere.

But he insisted "it was never the goal to get around the rules and avoid the BAPE."