Environmental group returns to Quebec Superior Court in Northvolt case

The proposed site for Northvolt's battery manufacturing and recycling plant is located on 171 hectares of land in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville. (Scott Prouse/CTV News)

The Centre québécois du droit de l'environnement (CQDE) and the three citizens who filed an injunction in Quebec Superior Court to suspend the Northvolt battery plant project are once again challenging the regulatory change that ruled out an environmental evaluation (BAPE).

The CQDE is once again appealing to the courts, this time to challenge regulatory changes made by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government prior to the announcement of the Northvolt project.

Part of the Regulation respecting the environmental impact assessment and review of certain projects was amended last July by the Quebec government, allowing the first phase of the Northvolt project to avoid a BAPE review.

The plant's production capacity would be 56,000 metric tons, and the government's amendment stated that battery plants producing 60,000 metric tons or less would be able to avoid a BAPE assessment.

"We can't allow governments to change standards at the whim of the customer as it would set a dangerous precedent," said CQDE lawyer Camille Cloutier. "In light of the information revealed over the past few weeks, we feel it is all the more important to ensure respect for the rule of law and our democratic processes."

The parties are expected to meet again shortly before the Superior Court "to determine the next steps in the case," said Cloutier.

In an exchange with the Canadian Press, Northvolt's communications director for North America, Laurent Therrien, indicated that the company was "respecting the process" and letting "legal proceedings take their course."

The company said it preferred "not to comment" on what was happening before the courts.

Application rejected last January

Last January, Superior Court Judge David R. Collier dismissed the application for a provisional interlocutory injunction filed by CQDE and the three citizens against Northvolt.

Tree-cutting work on the site of the future plant was suspended for a few days while the judge handed down his decision.

The plaintiff argued that the Quebec Environment Ministry had authorized Northvolt to begin work on the site, located in Montérégie, without knowing the impact on biodiversity and without Northvolt presenting a detailed compensation plan.