Contrecoeur Port Terminal: All Lights Are Red for the Copper Redhorse

Montreal, March 24, 2021 – On March 1, the federal government published the Environmental Assessment Report for the Contrecoeur Port Terminal Expansion Project. The same day, it released the Environmental Assessment Decision Statement authorizing the project to proceed, despite the announced destruction of part of the critical habitat of the Copper Redhorse, an endangered species legally protected by the Species at Risk Act since 2007.

In response to this decision, scientists specializing in conservation and aquatic ecology prepared a scientific opinion on the impacts of the Contrecoeur Port Terminal Expansion Project on the Copper Redhorse. The document was delivered on March 17 to the ministers responsible for Fisheries and Oceans Canada and for Environment and Climate Change Canada. This scientific opinion concludes that the mitigation measures proposed to compensate for critical habitat destruction in the Contrecoeur sector are not based on science relevant to either the St. Lawrence River ecosystem or the specific biology of the Copper Redhorse.

“Affirming, as the federal government does, that the impacts of the project can be avoided, mitigated and compensated for, does not take into account the reality of the hydrological conditions in this sector of the St. Lawrence River,” said Pierre Dumont, PhD, biologist and Copper Redhorse specialist. “According to the best scientific evaluations available, there is already insufficient grass beds to ensure the recovery of the species in this section of the St. Lawrence, a section that plays a strategic role in the life cycle of the species. A significant portion of the species’ food supply could therefore be impacted by this project.”

The scientific opinion also shows that the Environmental Assessment Report for the Contrecoeur Port Terminal Expansion Project greatly underestimates the negative impacts of the project on the critical habitat of the Copper Redhorse. Dredging, in particular, could destroy additional elements of critical habitat and resuspend large quantities of contaminants, including butyltin compounds, biocides linked to shipping and known to be endocrine disruptors.

“Faced with the risk of serious or irreversible damage to the Copper Redhorse, the precautionary principle must prevail,” emphasized Louis Bernatchez, Canada Research Chair in Genomics and Conservation of Aquatic Resources at Laval University. “There is only one global population of this species, and we have neither the right nor the luxury to make mistakes.”

“On the one hand, the federal government underestimates the negative impacts on the Copper Redhorse of the port terminal project at Contrecoeur, and on the other, it is proposing compensation measures whose benefits remain speculative and hypothetical at best. Science must absolutely continue to guide decision-making for a species literally on the brink,” concluded Alain Branchaud, biologist, Copper Redhorse specialist and Executive Director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Quebec chapter (SNAP Québec).

The ministerial order to enact measures to protect the Copper Redhorse’s critical habitat is still not in force, putting Fisheries and Oceans Canada now 8 years, 3 months and 7 days (3 019 days) past the deadline set out in the Species at Risk Act.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION (references in French)

Avis scientifique : Impacts du projet d’agrandissement du terminal portuaire de Contrecœur sur le chevalier cuivré, March 17 2021

Communiqué : Juge et partie, le gouvernement fédéral s’autorise l’expansion du Port de Montréal à Contrecœur malgré les impacts dramatiques sur la biodiversité, March 2 2021

Communiqué : Un pas en avant, deux pas en arrière :  le gouvernement annonce la protection et la destruction de l’habitat essentiel du chevalier cuivré, February 19 2021

Communiqué : Victoire pour le chevalier cuivré ? Le gouvernement sommé d’assurer la protection immédiate de son habitat, February 18 2021

Communiqué : Expansion du port de Montréal à Contrecœur : un soutien prématuré et préoccupant, January 12 2021

Communiqué : Protection du chevalier cuivré : un délai déraisonnable force le recours juridique, January 7 2021

CONTACT

Charlène Daubenfeld
Communications Director, SNAP Québec
Cell: (514) 378-3880
[email protected]