Question Period Note: Énergie Saguenay Project, Quebec

Énergie Saguenay Project, Quebec

Protecting our aquatic ecosystems while considering economic interests of communities who rely on these industries for their livelihoods is a priority for our government.

My department has actively participated in the federal environmental assessment for the Énergie Saguenay project and I support the decision announced yesterday.

While impacts of terminal construction on fish and fish habitat could have been mitigated, DFO is of the opinion that noise associated with project shipping could have had negative impacts on the survival and recovery of the beluga, an endangered species protected under the Species at Risk Act.

• On February 7, 2022, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change announced that the project will result in significant adverse environmental effects that are not justified in the circumstances. The announcement concludes the environmental assessment (EA) process.
• [Information was severed in accordance with the Access to Information Act.]
• On September 22, 2021, The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (the Agency) published the draft EA Report and potential EA conditions on the Agency’s public Registry. The Report concluded that the project is likely to cause significant direct and cumulative adverse environmental effects on marine mammals, including endangered Beluga whales and related significant effects on the cultural heritage of Innu First Nations, which cannot be appropriately mitigated.
• On June 11, 2021, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) submitted its final expert advice to the Agency in the context of the EA, which was published on the public registry.
• DFO's advice concluded that impacts to fish and fish habitat associated with the construction phase of the terminal would be limited, and could be addressed by mitigation measures and offsetting.
• However, with respect to impacts resulting from marine shipping, DFO is of the opinion that the noise associated with ships could have significant negative impacts on marine mammals, particularly the beluga, which is listed as Endangered on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act.
• Mitigation measures proposed by the proponent did not demonstrate effectiveness in avoiding or reducing these risks on beluga and/or other marine mammals in the project area.
• Marine traffic associated with the new terminal (300-400 transits annually) planned to go through the Critical Habitat of the beluga, which is located in the Upper Estuary and in the southern portion of the Lower Estuary.
• On July 21, 2021, following the publication of the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) report on March 23, 2021, the Quebec Minister responsible for the Ministère de l’environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques announced the project would not be granted provincial approval. A decree to this effect was published on August 11, 2021. However, since the proponent did not withdraw its application to the federal process, the federal EA continued to its formal conclusion.
• On May 12, 2021, the three First Nation councils of Essipit, Mashteuiatsh and Pessamit submitted a joint brief to the BAPE outlining their concerns with regard to environmental, social and economic acceptability and the impacts on future generations. The groups are also insisting analysis of the project be done in close coordination with that of the Gazoduq pipeline project.
• A Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat Report (2018/025) on the potential effects of construction of the Énergie Saguenay project and Saint-Rose-du-Nord marine terminal indicates that additional traffic on the Saguenay Fjord will affect a portion of the beluga critical habitat already subject to noise (Sainte-Marguerite Bay) and regularly frequented by females and juveniles, a particularly vulnerable segment of the population.
• The Critical Habitat Order protecting the critical habitat of the beluga, St. Lawrence Estuary population was published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, in December 2017.
• In November 2016, DFO received a request for review for the project, in regards to a potential authorization under the Fisheries Act, a process currently paused until the EA has been completed.
• In January 2016, a federal EA under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, led by the Agency, was initiated.
• The proponent proposed the construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas facility and export terminal located in the District of La Baie, Saguenay City, Quebec.

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