WOOD PELLET TERMINAL: A PROJECT THAT BENEFITS THE PORT, CITY AND COMMUNITY

11/13/2013

Québec, November 13, 2013 – In light of comments made in the past few days, the Québec Port Authority (QPA) wishes to reiterate that the Anse au Foulon wood pellet terminal project has undergone a strict and thorough authorization process and that it complies with the highest environmental impact standards. The QPA also wishes to reiterate that a committee of experts will be put in charge of integrating the project’s domes into the urban landscape for better coexistence between port and city life. Public consultations will also be held in 2014 in connection with this urban development plan. 
  
Over the last year, the QPA met with community representatives from the Anse au Foulon sector several times to discuss matters such as the impact of port activities. Their concerns included dust, noise, odours and trucking. The meetings were constructive and led the QPA to establish key strategies for the Anse au Foulon sector’s future development, which will include projects targeting breakbulk, covered handling and intermodality with a small carbon footprint. The wood pellet terminal project is entirely in line with those strategies.



“The strategies for the Anse au Foulon sector focus on minimal impact. The terminal will be located in a deserted industrial sector across from a rock face, where we currently store huge loads of salt that are covered with black tarps and where equipment is already located that is the same height as the domes. If that space can’t be used for a project to transfer biomass entirely under cover, in cutting-edge facilities with an intermodality that has a small carbon footprint, what space can?” asked Mario Girard, President and CEO of the QPA. “Is it the Anse au Foulon sector’s port function that people are questioning?”



“The project will move forward,” said Girard. “We competed with U.S. cities for the terminal project, and we won because of economic considerations, but more importantly because of our ability to deliver the functional infrastructure on time. That did not mean we didn’t do our homework and do it well. The QPA is going ahead with the project because it will benefit the Anse au Foulon sector, the Port of Québec, the city and, most importantly, our community.”



Last June, the QPA announced the wood pellet terminal project and schedule, and at the same time it unveiled its new development strategies for the Anse au Foulon sector. In recent months, the QPA has met with numerous stakeholders to provide them with information on the project. The environmental impact study was published as soon as the project was given the green light, in the interest of providing as much information as possible, as soon as possible.



In 2014, the QPA will hold public consultations on the revisions to the port territory land-use plan, to allow for healthy and constructive debate based on solid data on the economic and social impacts of the port’s presence in the city.



Integration of the wood pellet terminal



In June, the QPA announced a development project to extend the Promenade Samuel-de Champlain that would improve the link between the river, the port and the city. Residents will also be consulted on that project. The QPA would like to confirm that an advisory committee made up of visual arts, design and architecture experts will be formed to direct the Port on how best to integrate the domes of the wood pellet project into the urban landscape. The advisory committee’s conclusions will be published, and the QPA will give residents time to comment on those conclusions.



“I am certain that we will be able to make the port and city work together optimally in this vital sector. We aren’t a federal island in the middle of the river, like some people claim. We are proud to be part of Québec, which is a unique North American city, one that stands out for its quality of life and that is also a port city,” said Girard.



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For additional information:



Anick Métivier

Assistant Director, Sustainable Development and Community Relations

Québec Port Authority

Tel.: 418-648-3640

Email: [email protected]