Environment Minister Benoit Charette admits that the increase in the nickel standard has “impacts” on the arrival of the giant BAFS in Bécancour. However, he refuses to judge the past of this company which flouted environmental laws in the United States with its emissions.
• Read also: The company that will go to Bécancour violated the law in Michigan
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“It is quite certain that there are impacts [avec] this standard, we send a signal, ”said Minister Charette during a short press scrum Wednesday morning at the National Assembly. “We confirm that we want to rely on the most convincing standards […] But a direct link should not be made between the change in standard and BASF’s announcement.”
Our Parliamentary Office revealed that the giant BASF, which will build a cathode manufacturing and battery recycling plant in Bécancour, violated the Michigan Pollution Act for more than a year by emitting too much nickel there. Quebec wants to multiply this daily emission standard by five.
Even if there is an impact, he maintains that BASF would have settled in Quebec anyway with the current standard. “But it is an environment that we have just confirmed for nickel, yes. And we know that nickel is fundamental for the battery industry, so that we can electrify our transport and reduce our greenhouse gases.
Not worried
The minister also refuses to judge the past polluter of the company which will settle in Quebec. “I cannot judge what has been done elsewhere. I do not know the regulations of each of the American states,” said Minister Charette.
The latter is not worried about the company’s past. “In the sense that we have our own environmental rules,” he mentioned.
In February 2021, the Michigan Department of the Great Lakes Environment and Energy ordered BASF to pay the state US$85,000. It had caused damage to the environment and to public health.
“I know very well that at the ministry level, we have a control department which is very well equipped and which will ensure compliance with our regulations, so, no, there is no concern from our side,” said Mr. Charette during a short press scrum.
Concerned
Liberal Isabelle Melançon attacked the minister saying he wants to raise the airborne nickel threshold and compromise the health of citizens and the environment to satisfy a business “The cat is out of the bag […] The real boss of the environment is Fitzgibbon. And that’s not reassuring,” she wrote on Twitter.
