(Quebec) The Legault government refuses a new environmental review by the BAPE on the railway bypass in Lac-Mégantic.
Nearly 11 years after the railway disaster which left 47 dead, groups of expropriated people and environmentalists dissatisfied with the route proposed by the federal government are demanding that the funding promised by Quebec for this controversial project be conditional on the holding of a new favorable assessment from the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE).
The Trudeau government has committed to building this 12-km-long line that would bypass downtown Lac-Mégantic, to once and for all prevent other trains loaded with hazardous materials from crossing the urban area.
But on Monday, opponents argued that the route proposed by Ottawa would notably damage dozens of hectares of agricultural land and wetlands as well as the water table.
The bill for the bypass – 60% assumed by the federal government and 40% by Quebec – would amount to $1 billion, estimates Sherbrooke MP Christine Labrie of Québec solidaire (QS), which supports the opponents and asks the government to consult the population.
“It would be normal to check if the project still has the support of the community,” she argued during the question period.
Mr. Charette criticized the QS MP for not having communicated with the mayor of Lac-Mégantic, “the main elected municipal official”, who supports the bypass project.
“Both the City [of Lac-Mégantic] and the people of Lac-Mégantic refuse a third BAPE,” he insisted.
His colleague, the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, for her part indicated that the Legault government supported the federal government so that the file could be resolved.
“There is no politics to be had on this issue,” she lectured. I was surprised when I saw the colleague [depute] from Sherbrooke. We have to move on, we have to turn the page, the suffering is still palpable. »
On Monday, Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez also opposed a new environmental assessment.
At a press conference on Monday, opponents claimed that during the drying work on the route, 55 million liters of water will be dumped daily into the Chaudière River.
More than 138 drinking water wells would be threatened, as well as an underground lake protected by ministerial decree, all to pass only two trains per day, they added. No less than 110 hectares of wetlands would also be destroyed.
Remember that on July 6, 2013, the entire city center of Lac-Mégantic was razed by the worst rail disaster in Canadian history.
A convoy of 72 Montreal Maine and Atlantic cars carrying crude oil was parked in nearby Nantes when its brake system failed after a locomotive fire. The train started rolling down the long slope all by itself in the middle of the night. It derailed in the heart of downtown Lac-Mégantic, near restaurants and bars, and killed 47 people.