Stablex: Court of Appeal rejects Blainville’s request

The Quebec Court of Appeal on Wednesday rejected the city of Blainville’s request to suspend the province’s expropriation of land belonging to the city for use as a hazardous waste dump.

The Court of Appeal relies on the arguments raised by the Superior Court in a judgment rendered on April 2.

She concludes that “the balance of convenience does not favour the City’s position.”

The American company Stablex will therefore be able to continue its work to expand its landfill on land that belonged to the city, in order to store waste there for around forty additional years, despite the opposition of Blainville, which wanted to continue to protect the land, which consists of nine hectares of wetlands and 58 hectares of woodland.

According to the Court of Appeal, the evidence presented by the Attorney General of Quebec and the company Stablex “amply demonstrates the urgency of continuing the work, given that, in the near future, the capacity in the fifth cell which is currently active will be reached and that a new cell must be put in place urgently to receive the materials before the capacity of the fifth cell is reached.” 

Stablex’s industrial waste treatment center currently includes a treatment plant and five landfill cells, and the company plans to build a sixth cell. 

Deforestation work has also begun in recent days.

“In reality, it is clear that there will be environmental damage if Stablex proceeds with the work, but not constructing the sixth cell would also have significant environmental consequences,” the judgment handed down Wednesday reads.

In a brief written statement Wednesday, the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC) and the City of Blainville indicated that they “take note of the Court of Appeal’s decision not to hear their case in the Stablex matter and are currently evaluating their options with their legal teams.”

An adoption under gag order

At the end of March, the Legault government forced through Bill 93 by speeding up procedures.

The deputies adopted the bill by 61 votes to 31. The three opposition parties rejected the legislation.

From the beginning, Blainville proposed another adjacent site for the expansion of the dump, an option rejected by both the government and the company, who considered it too close, 300 meters away, from a residential area.

Furthermore, the expansion project would cost Stablex $150 million on the land it wants, rather than $250 million on the land proposed by the city: the company has stored tons of clay there and it would therefore cost $100 million more to transport this material elsewhere.

An interim control regulation (RCI) is in effect on both sites, so these are territories partly protected by the Montreal Metropolitan Community, due to the wetlands found there.

Stablex, for its part, argues that it must expand to serve its Quebec customers and that, to avoid an interruption of service, the preparation work, which includes tree felling, must begin no later than spring 2025.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews