The Superior Court rejected the application for an injunction by the Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement (CQDE) and three citizens to temporarily suspend preparatory work on the site of its future manufacturing plant for electric vehicle battery cells.
This application challenged both the ministerial authorization issued under the Environment Quality Act and the municipal permit issued.
The judge found that no serious argument (or “strong prima facie case”) had been made by the plaintiffs to warrant challenging the validity of Northvolt’s authorizations. The Court also found that, given the nature of the project, Northvolt and the public interest would suffer greater harm if an order was granted.
The Québec government believes that the Northvolt project is of great importance for the province’s economy, generating over 3,000 new jobs when the plant will be built. It is a green, structuring project for the province.
Northvolt Batteries North America was advised in this matter by a Fasken team, composed of Nathalie-Anne Béliveau, Annie Bernard, Pierre-Olivier Charlebois, Camille Duguay, Frédéric Legendre, Christophe Leduc, Guillaume Pelegrin, Nicolas-Karl Perrault, Gaëlle Obadia and Marie-Pierre Boudreau.
Jurisdiction
- Québec
