Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Issues in dispute
Territorial context of the project
For the City of Lévis, the designation for industry and port activities around the Ville-
Guay area bears witness to a long-standing desire to take advantage of a favourable
situation, namely the potential for deep-water ships to dock at the farthest point
upstream, coupled with large flat lands that suit large-scale industrial plants. Lévis
considers that the proposed LNG terminal corresponds well to this type of use and
that its city by-laws allow it to host the terminal, subject to two amendments, qualified
as minor and that did not cause any controversy. Lévis will also have to modify some
sections of its urban development regulations that cover the projected gas pipeline
route. The city council mandated its planning department to prepare the required
modifications (DM315, p. 13; DB27, p. 14).
Some one hundred opponents to the project nonetheless applied to the Superior
Court to have the project declared as not in compliance with the City of Lévis zoning
by-law No. 234 (DC97). This application is based especially on the expertise of a city
planner, for whom the uses authorized by the zoning by-law do not cover most of the
LNG terminal components. He explained that these components were largely
incompatible with many of the uses authorized since they involve health and public
security risks (Mr. Claude Lavoie, DT17, p. 52 to 62; DC3).
Moreover, under the authority of the Municipal Code of Québec (L.R.Q., c. C-27.1),
the Municipality of Beaumont adopted by-law No. 523 on December 19, 2005,
“Règlement relatif à l’entreposage de certaines matières explosives, inflammables ou
autrement dangereuses” (DB14; DM619, p. 22). This by-law forbids, among other
things, the storage of gaseous or liquid methane and liquefied natural gas on
Beaumont land and within a radius of 1 km beyond Beaumont’s municipal limits.
Since the land retained by the proponent is adjacent to the Beaumont municipal limits,
the perimeter affected by by-law No. 523 encompasses the major part of the project
site. According to the municipality of Beaumont, the proposed LNG terminal could not
be operated without violating its by-law No. 523.
However, this interpretation by Beaumont is rejected by the proponent and the City of
Lévis. In addition, in an aim to counter the Beaumont by-law, on May 7, 2007, the
Lévis city council adopted the by-law Règlement RV-2007-06-18 permettant
l’emmagasinage and l’entreposage de certaines matières sur une partie du territoire 1 .
This by-law aims specifically to allow the storage of the substances forbidden by bylaw
523, and also asserts that the Beaumont by-law is not applicable on the territory
of Lévis (DM619; DB62; DB111).
1. It should be noted that this by-law was not in force when it was sent to the Panel
Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure 103