CANADA: CEMENT PORT-DANIEL COULD RECEIVE MORE MONEY

The cement Port-Daniel-Gascons, Gaspesie, already funded with half a billion dollars of public funds could still receive more money from the government Couillard.

The Minister of Natural Resources, Pierre Arcand, hinted Wednesday that the expensive project could receive money from the Green Fund.

This controversial project, which will create the largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) in Quebec, Cement McInnis, would be eligible for funding from the Green Fund is investing in greener technology. This proposed $ 1 billion is already funded at $ 450 million by the state.

Currently, it is anticipated that the petroleum coke and coal will be the main fuel for the cement. Later, after a break-in period, the company plans to use biomass from logging residues.

“Our desire is that the proposed Cement McInnis is a green project, with less use of oil and coal”, said the Minister of Natural Resources, Pierre Arcand, in a press briefing at the end of the meeting of the Liberal caucus Wednesday morning.

“There is the possibility of eventually have natural gas, biomass, and in a future world, there are carbon capture opportunities. ”

However, in the short term, the most practical solution would be the use of natural gas, Mr. Arcand has said, while referring to the $ 3.8 million in Quebec in the Bourque project, a company deposit Petrolia located in the Gaspé.

The minister suggested that the government was pressuring Cement McInnis to reduce its carbon footprint, in line with greenhouse gas reduction targets (GHG) emissions in Quebec and the commitments made by Canada at the last UN Conference climate change in Paris.

The Green Fund to the rescue?

“We will do whatever is necessary for the cement plant in Port-Daniel obviously emit the least greenhouse gases to be,” said the minister.

By doing this, so do not rule out the possibility of injecting more public money into adventure through the Green Fund. “In terms of energy efficiency, green Fund can certainly serve,” Mr. Arcand said.

Recall that the Green Fund was established by the government with the revenue from the carbon exchange. It is used to finance greenhouse gas reduction projects and more generally “sustainable development measures, including on strategic issues related to the fight against climate change, waste management and water management “can be read on the green Fund website.

This is not the first time McInnis Cement finds himself in the hot seat. The project was announced with great fanfare by the Marois government in 2014 and soon after coming to power, the Liberals had questioned then confirm.

The project funding half from public funds or from Investissement Québec and the Caisse de dépôt et placement.

CANADA: Le projet de cimenterie à Port-Daniel avance, toujours sans BAPE

Le gouvernement libéral veut « évacuer » rapidement « toute incertitude » sur l’avenir du projet de cimenterie à Port-Daniel. Le leader du gouvernement, Jean-Marc Fournier, veillera à assurer l’adoption du projet de loi 37 avant l’ajournement des travaux parlementaires, le vendredi 12 juin, a appris Le Devoir.

Les élus ont achevé lundi l’étude détaillée du projet de loi consistant à « confirmer »l’« interprétation » du Parti libéral du Québec et du Parti québécois selon laquelle le projet de Ciment McInnis est dispensé de l’examen du Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) puisqu’il a été présenté une première fois avant l’entrée en vigueur de la nouvelle version de la Loi sur la qualité de l’environnement.

« La Gaspésie a été déçue souvent. On n’a pas le droit de manquer notre coup. On prend des mesures de prudence pour que les marchés financiers continuent d’être présents », a déclaré le ministre de l’Économie, Jacques Daoust, en commission parlementaire lundi.

À plein régime, la cimenterie de Ciment McInnis émettra plus de 1,75 million de tonnes de gaz à effet de serre (GES) par année. Elle sera à l’origine de 2 % des émissions de GES totales du Québec.

Le « projet le plus polluant de l’histoire du Québec » échappera à la moindre évaluation environnementale indépendante, a dénoncé le député caquiste Simon Jolin-Barrette. « On demande un BAPE quand ça nous tente. Quand ça ne nous tente pas, quand il y a des votes à acheter, on ne demande pas d’autorisation environnementale », a-t-il lancé.

« On manque de projets »

M. Jolin-Barrette a aussi écorché la décision d’injecter pas moins de « 450 millions d’argent public » afin de créer quelque 200 emplois. « Le gouvernement aurait dû faire mieux », a-t-il dit.

Au Québec, « on ne manque pas d’argent, on manque de projets », a rétorqué le ministre Daoust, mettant au défi l’élu caquiste de « trouver un autre projet ». « On va peut-être lefaire aussi. »

En adoptant le projet de loi 37, les élus de l’Assemblée nationale tueront dans l’oeuf toute tentative de Lafarge Canada — un « concurrent » de Ciment McInnis — de faire échouer le projet de cimenterie à Port-Daniel au moyen d’interminables procédures judiciaires.

Lafarge Canada entendait faire invalider par la Cour supérieure le certificat d’autorisation octroyé par le ministère de l’Environnement au projet decimenterie à Port-Daniel-Gascons. Le tribunal a reporté l’audition au mérite de son recours, dont le coup d’envoi était fixé au lundi 2 mars, au lendemain du dépôt du projet de loi 37.

L’adoption du projet de loi 37 constituerait un pied de nez au principe de l’État de droit, selon la Coalition avenir Québec. « On a choisi de vivre dans un État de droit. Ici, le politique intervient directement dans la job des tribunaux », a déploré M. Jolin-Barrette. Qui plus est, il s’agit d’un « mauvais projet » économique et environnemental, a-t-il martelé.

La « multinationale étrangère » Lafarge « a un procédé plus polluant à la tonne que la nouvelle entreprise », Ciment McInnis, a fait remarquer M. Daoust. « Je suis passé à Saint-Constant [où se trouvent ses installations] en fin de semaine et je n’ai pas vu d’oiseaux malades », a-t-il souligné.

Ciment McInnis pilote le « projet de développement économique le plus important de l’histoire de la Gaspésie », a fait valoir pour sa part le député de Bonaventure, Sylvain Roy. L’élu péquiste s’en est pris lundi à tous ceux qui ont une « vision passéiste, folklorique, moyenâgeuse de ce que sont les régions, de ce qu’est la Gaspésie » en dépeignant ses résidants comme « des gens qui ne veulent vivre que de chasse et de pêche ». « On veut vivre aussi de la modernité ou de la postmodernité pour certains théoriciens. On veut vivre aussi d’un essor industriel. On y a droit », a soutenu l’élu péquiste.

CANADA: Cement industry fires up search for alternative fuels to reduce CO2 emissions

The cement industry, already self-conscious about its carbon-emissions impact on climate, says it was delivered something of a double-whammy by British Columbia’s carbon tax.

The tax, at $30 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions, pushed up the cost of coal — the industry’s primary fuel for its energy-intensive process — to between $53 and $62 per tonne at B.C. cement plants after it was applied in 2008, said Michael McSweeney, president of the Canadian Cement Association.

Then they watched as cheaper imports from Asia and the U.S. cut into their market share, from six per cent of the market before the tax to 40 per cent now, McSweeney said.

The industry, which employs some 3,000 people in B.C., has been marked by down time and layoffs since, he said.

So the 2015 B.C. provincial budget, which included a five-year transition plan to help the industry wean itself off a lot of that coal — including a three-year, $22-million “incentive program” — came as a relief to a sector that has been lobbying hard for some help.

The lower-carbon and zero-carbon alternatives the industry is exploring range from waste wood and un-reusable residuals from recycling to a bio coal.

“It jumped off the page to us,” McSweeney said when Finance Minister Mike de Jong gave the program a specific, high-profile mention when he unveiled the 2015 budget Feb. 17.

De Jong, in his budget speech, said government’s hope is that “B.C.’s cement industry can produce a product that is competitively priced and that sets the standard for environmental sustainability.”

McSweeney said the industry is “very happy (government) now views cement as a strategic commodity in B.C.”

The overall plan is still being worked out between the industry and the Ministry of Environment, which is a point of contention for the NDP opposition. But McSweeney said generally the major plants operated by Lafarge Canada (in Richmond and Kamloops) and Lehigh-Hanson (Delta) would use the money to help subsidize the development of alternative fuel sources.

The political opposition in Victoria remains supportive but wary of the transition plan, because they have yet to see a detailed plan, said NDP environment critic Spencer Chandra-Herbert. He would prefer to see a bigger-picture effort.

“I get (the industry’s) challenge,” Chandra-Herbert said. “My big concern is that this is a one-off (effort), while there are a whole bunch of industries that need help (reducing emissions).

Making cement is an energy-intensive process. To make a tonne of cement, B.C. plants shovel about a tonne-and-a-half of Texada Island limestone and other ingredients into a long kiln, fired by about 140 kilograms of coal per tonne, until it is a semi-molten lava of 1,450 C.

That heat, McSweeney said, sets off the chemical reaction in which carbon is stripped out of the limestone to be emitted as carbon dioxide, and creates about 60 per cent of cement-making’s greenhouse-gas emissions.

“(Those) are process emissions,” McSweeney said. “It doesn’t matter how you process — that 60 per cent emissions will always be there.”

The lava cool quickly into a hardened, almost metallic material called clinker, which is ground and blended with other elements to become cement, “the glue” that (at 7-to-10 per cent of the mix) binds sand, gravel and water into the essential construction material concrete.

It is the 40 per cent of carbon emissions related to firing the kilns that B.C.’s cement makers want to attack with the transition program.

Canadian cement manufacturers are signatories to the Cement Sustainability Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which aims at curbing carbon emissions from its existing production, recognizing that economic forecasts call for production to rise.

In B.C., the goal is to increase alternative fuels to 40 per cent, McSweeney said, and the more they can use wood-based fuels classified as carbon-neutral biomass, the better.

At Lafarge Canada’s Richmond plant, they are hitting a 30-per-cent substitution rate now with a corporate goal to reach 50 per cent by 2020, said plant manager Pascal Bouchard, with a lot of scrap lumber from construction demolition and sawdust from local mills in the mix.

And due to the high temperatures involved in cement making, Pascal said, the kilns are effective incinerators for other materials such as residuals from plastic recycling, nylon from tire recycling and carpet backing, which don’t push emissions over Metro Vancouver’s air-quality standards.

Another benefit of those substitutions is that cement makers can use the ash produced as an ingredient in cement and don’t have to landfill it.

“We need to work with government,” on developing the transition program, Pascal said, but he would like some of the money to go into subsidizing the capital costs of installing the equipment for handling the new fuels.

The industry did put a lot of work into encouraging government, spending $171,478 on political contributions since 2009. Most, $128,988, has gone to the B.C. Liberal Party, and just $42,490 to the NDP.

And in the last year, records in the B.C. registry of lobbyists show that the Cement Association and Lafarge Canada have lobbied a long list of cabinet ministers, MLAs and officials including de Jong, Premier Christy Clark, Environment Minister Mary Polak and MLAs on the opposition side.

CANADA: Quebec to approve $1.1-billion cement plant without environmental review

Opposition parties and environmentalists slammed the Couillard government on Thursday for green-lighting a $1.1-billion cement works project without a review by Quebec’s environmental bureau.

The McInnis Cement plant in Port-Daniel—Gascons, in Gaspésie, could top the list of industrial polluters in the province.

The provincial government plans to exempt the project from an assessment by the Bureau des audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE), Quebec’s advisory office of environmental hearings. The company has said the project shouldn’t be subject to an environmental review because it was submitted in May 1995, a month before the law requiring such an assessment came into effect.

In the National Assembly, Economy, Innovation and Exports Minister Jacques Daoust said the project “isn’t an environmental dossier, it’s an economic dossier.” The opposition greeted the remark with jeers.

Coalition Avenir Québec environment critic, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said the government’s plan will encourage other companies to try to bypass an environmental review.

“From now on, lobbyists are going to line up outside the premier’s office to ask that other projects not be submitted to the BAPE,” he said in the National Assembly.

Last year, the Marois government announced that Quebec would invest $350 million in the project. The cement works on the shores of Baie-des-Chaleurs in Port-Daniel—Gascons would initially produce 2.2 million metric tonnes of cement annually.

Québec solidaire joined the CAQ in an unlikely pairing against the project.

Québec solidaire MNA Manon Massé accused the Couillard government of trying to “short circuit” the process.

“We know it’s extremely polluting because of the materials it will use. But we don’t have all the facts, so citizens can’t make an informed decision on the issue,” she said.

The plant would release 1.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHG) per year, according to an evaluation by a Canadian engineering consultant firm. That greenhouse gas output would make it the No. 1 industrial polluter in Quebec.

Yet in a statement on Thursday, McInnis said its plant “will become a model in North America for its environmental performance.” The company has said it will reduce global GHG emissions by replacing production of older, less efficient cement plants.

McInnis said the plant would create 400 jobs in a region plagued by chronic unemployment. The jobless rate in Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madelaine was 16.4 per cent in 2014, more than twice the provincial average of 7.7 per cent.

Last summer, two environmental groups joined one of McInnis’ competitors, Lafarge, in a legal challenge against McInnis to make sure it would undergo an environmental assessment.

The environmental groups dropped out after McInnis agreed to mediated talks and to form a committee in charge of monitoring GHG. Proceedings are nevertheless expected to go ahead in Quebec City in two weeks.

Michel Goudreau of Environnement Vert Plus, one of the two environmental groups that backed out of the challenge, said the Couillard government’s stance on the project shows its disregard for the environment.

“We’re reverting back to the old ways of reckless development we experienced in the 1950s and 1960s, when big projects were done without consultation or looking at the impacts on the environment,” he said.

Patrick Bonin, a spokesperson for Greenpeace in Montreal, agreed. “Quebec is doing all in its power to prevent the project from being submitted to the BAPE because the government knows it’s an extremely polluting project that would be indefensible from our current point of view on climate change,” he said.

CANADA: Lafarge lawsuit against McInnis Cement continues despite environmental truce

McInnis Cement has reaching a truce with environmental groups opposed to a $1.1 billion plant being built in the Gaspe region of Quebec, but the company continues to face a lawsuit by rival Lafarge.

Legal proceedings are expected to begin in two weeks in Quebec City as Lafarge attempts to quash the Quebec government’s authorization of the project at Port-Daniel-Gascons, Que., without an environmental assessment hearing.

Two environmental groups joined Lafarge’s challenge last summer but have now agreed to withdraw from the legal action in exchange for entering into mediated talks with McInnis. The two sides have agreed to form a committee that will address long-term emissions of greenhouse gases and other contaminants as well as protections for marine animals.

“The mediation process that McInnis has committed to will make larger environmental gains than what could be hoped for from a legal judgment at this late stage of the project,” said Michel Belanger, a lawyer for the environmentalists.

Lafarge Canada has said the new cement plant threatens jobs at its plant near Montreal and at other plants across the province. McInnis CEO Christian Gagnon has said Lafarge’s true aim is to slow the arrival of a new competitor.

“The withdrawal of the environmental groups is leaving Lafarge alone in the legal proceedings and highlight its non-competitive purpose,” Gagnon said in a statement announcing the truce with the environmental non-profits.

McInnis says the new plant will generate 20 per cent less greenhouse gas per tonne of cement than the North American average. The plant’s capacity will start at 2.2 million tonnes of cement and could reach more than 2.5 million tonnes. It is slated to open in the fall of 2016.

Although it could also produce two per cent of Quebec’s greenhouse gas emissions at full production, and about six per cent of its industrial emissions, the company says those numbers would gradually be reduced as biomass replaces up to half of the fuel burned.

McInnis Cement was formed by members of the family that founded Bombardier Inc. and its spinoff, Ski-Doo maker BRP Inc. It has received financial support from successive Parti Quebecois and Liberal provincial governments as well as the Caisse de depot pension fund manager.

Former premier Pauline Marois agreed to provide a guaranteed loan worth about $250 million. The province’s investment arm will invest $100 million and the Caisse will also invest $100 million as equity partner in the Beaudier Group, the investment arm of the Beaudoin family.

McInnis said last fall that the project would be at risk if it was forced to suspend work to conduct what it called unnecessary environmental hearings. Supporters claim the project is subject to old environmental rules in place when it was first proposed more than 20 years ago, even though the plant’s capacity has more than doubled.

CANADA: Holcim to power cement production with discarded K-cup packs

It’s become popular to grab a K-cup pack, throw it in the Keurig, make a cup of coffee and then throw it away.

However, one company now intends to use recovered K-cup packs as an alternative fuel for a cement plant.

Holcim Canada and Van Houtte Coffee Services Inc., a subsidiary of Keurig Canada Inc, recently introduced a new service to recover the energy content of used K-Cup packs from institutional and commercial clients of Van Houtte, states a release.

Once collected the packs are sent to the Holcim Canada Joliette cement plant where they are processed and reused as alternative fuel.

"Using alternative fuels is an important and effective tool to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and improve our CO2 profile. Reclaiming used K-Cup packs helps us to meet the ambitious objectives we've set," said Robert Houde, general manager of Geocycle, the Holcim Canada division responsible for alternative fuels, in a statement.

Holcim Canada manufactures cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete and provides construction services.

CANADA: Port-Daniel: Ciment McInnis menace d'abandonner le projet

Ciment McInnis fait planer la menace d'abandonner le projet de cimenterie à Port-Daniel au cas où celui-ci devrait être soumis à la procédure d'évaluation du Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE).

L'entreprise a inséré cette mise en garde dans la contestation qu'elle a produite à la Cour supérieure du Québec pour répliquer à la requête de Ciment Lafarge, du Centre québécois du droit de l'environnement et d'Environnement Vert-Plus.

Ciment McInnis indique que 7 entrepreneurs et près de 350 travailleurs travaillent déjà à la construction de la cimenterie. L'entreprise ajoute que les partenaires ont dépensé plus de 160 millions de dollars dans le projet, somme qui grimpera à 435 millions au mois de décembre.

«Par surcroit, les mises en cause McInnis ont finalisé et conclu un accord avec le syndicat bancaire au mois de juin 2014, lequel prévoit notamment que tout changement d'importance dans le projet, incluant la suspension des travaux, pourrait entraîner le retrait des prêteurs et ainsi entraîner la fin du projet, le tout tel que preuve en sera faite à l'audition», écrit Ciment McInnis dans sa contestation.

Requête en Cour supérieure

Lafarge et les deux organisations environnementales ont déposé en août dernier une requête en Cour supérieure pour faire invalider le certificat d'autorisation accordé au projet de cimenterie Port-Daniel par le ministère de l'Environnement. Les requérants veulent assujettir la cimenterie à la procédure d'évaluation et d'examen des impacts sur l'environnement du BAPE.

Dans sa contestation, Ciment McInnis soutient que depuis le début du projet, en 1993, le gouvernement a confirmé à plusieurs reprises que le projet était exempt du processus d'audiences publiques du BAPE.

Selon Québec, le projet n'est pas soumis au BAPE parce qu'il s'agit d'une modification à un projet soumis avant l'assujettissement des cimenteries au BAPE, en février 1996.

Ciment McInnis a profité du dépôt de sa contestation pour faire valoir que son projet était un modèle de performance environnementale grâce à des technologies de pointe.

L'entreprise a souligné que le montage financier du projet ne comportait aucune subvention gouvernementale.

Toutefois, Investissement Québec a annoncé un prêt de 250 millions et une participation de 100 millions en équité. Pour sa part, la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec a annoncé une participation de 100 millions. Il s'agit d'un projet de 1 milliard.

CANADA: Cimenterie de Port-Daniel : des sénateurs américains veulent une enquête

Dans une lettre publiée jeudi, ils souhaitent que l'enquête se penche sur le demi-milliard de dollars en « subventions potentiellement injustes » que pourrait octroyer Québec à ce projet.

Ils notent que l'usine de Port-Daniel-Gascons devra conquérir le marché du nord-est des États-Unis pour assurer son avenir. Selon les deux sénateurs, cela pourrait se traduire par l'arrivée massive de ciment « injustement subventionné » dans le marché américain.

Les sénateurs craignent que cela provoque une « distorsion » du marché aux États-Unis et demandent donc au représentant commercial d'intervenir.

Plus tôt cette semaine, la Chambre des représentants de la Pennsylvanie a aussi adopté une résolution demandant une enquête sur la future cimenterie québécoise.

Conformité aux normes de l'OMC

Charles Schumer et Kirsten Gillibrand souhaitent que Wahsington analyse les « détails » des investissements réalisés par Québec pour vérifier si ces ententes ne contreviennent pas aux normes de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC).d

Le vice-président de l'ACC pour le Québec et l'Atlantique, Michel Binette, estime que ce début d'escalade n'augure rien de bon. Il craint l'imposition éventuelle de droits compensateurs. « Ce ne serait pas une décision qui s'appliquerait uniquement à la future cimenterie de Port-Daniel, mais c'est une décision qui va s'appliquer pour toutes les cimenteries au Canada », pense-t-il.L'Association canadienne du ciment (ACC) a réagi prudemment à cette nouvelle demande de politiciens américains. L'ACC a largement critiqué l'intervention de Québec dans le dossier de Ciment McKinnis dans le passé, prétextant que cette nouvelle usine allait encombrer un marché québécois prétendument saturé.

Nous n'avons pas pu obtenir de réaction du ministre responsable du dossier, Jacques Daoust. Ce dernier avait, dans un premier temps, exprimé de sérieux doutes sur le projet, avant de donner son feu vert au printemps dernier, et ce, après avoir obtenu des garanties supplémentaires des investisseurs partenaires dans le projet.

CANADA: Lafarge joins legal challenge against $1-billion Quebec cement plant

Lafarge SA has joined two non-profit groups in mounting a legal challenge against a Quebec cabinet minister’s authorization of a $1-billion cement plant to be built in the province’s chronically-underemployed Gaspé region.

The French building products giant, together with the Centre Québécois du droit de l’Environnement and Environnement Vert-Plus Inc., has filed a motion for judicial review asking the Quebec Superior Court to quash a decision by David Heurtel, Quebec’s environment minister, authorizing construction of the McInnis cement plant in Port-Daniel-Gascons on the Gaspé peninsula.

Lead by the well-known Bombardier-Beaudoin family, it is one of the largest industrial projects underway in Eastern Canada, and made possible by $350-million in loans and equity from the Quebec government.

The plaintiffs argue Mr. Heurtel, “exceeded his jurisdiction” by giving the controversial project a green light in June without it being subject to an environmental impact assessment and review. They want a full environmental review to take place by the province’s Bureau d’Audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE).

It’s the latest development in what has been a lingering battle between proponents of the cement facility, who argue that it will bring much-needed jobs and investment to a distressed area, and detractors who say the government shouldn’t be supporting one project in an industry already in oversupply. U.S. lawmakers have voiced serious concerns about the project, charging it may violate trade rules.

CANADA: McInnis Cement new generation cement plant completes its financing

McInnis Cement announced that the financial structure of its new generation cement plant under construction in the Gaspé region has been completed. National Bank of Canada, as sole bookrunner of the bank syndicate, has confirmed the availability of a $360M loan for the project. This amount is in addition to the $500M in equity from private and public investors including the joint venture formed by the groupe Beaudier and La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, as well as the participation of Investissement Québec (IQ). Furthermore, IQ has also provided a $250M commercial loan, for a total of 1.1 billion $.

« We are pleased that the project can be realized without any subsidy; we are also very proud to be able to complete, more than 30 years after it was imagined by local entrepreneurs, this visionary, ambitious and modern cement plant at the cutting edge of technology », says Christian Gagnon, CEO of McInnis Cement. « Construction has begun and the project is well under way. Moreover, the ecological footprint of this flagship project for the cement industry in Canadaand across the world will be one of the lowest in the industry. »

Project details

The Port-Daniel cement plant:

1.Will use up to 40 % less fuel per ton of cement than traditional cement plants (due to higher use of hydroelectric power) reducing emissions of greenhouse gas;

2. Will comply with the US standards set out in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP (2015)), which are more stringent than those presently applied in Quebec. For comparison, the NESHAP 2015 standard applicable to the emission of particulate matter from the kilns is 15 times more stringent than the one applied in Quebec (maximum of 10 grams per ton of clinker produced, while the Quebec standard allows 150 grams per ton of clinker (mixture of limestone and silica)). The Port-Daniel cement plant will be the only one in Canada to comply with the NESHAP 2015 standards;

3. Will be equipped with all the latest technology for improved environmental performance, including the latest generation bag filters throughout the plant for improved efficiency;

4. Will also utilize maritime transportation for fuel, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project.

The project will use petroleum coke as fuel, an oil refinery residue with a high heating value. The cement plant represents one of the more ecological ways of putting this residue to good use. Its kilns that operate at very high temperatures enable its usage while reducing atmospheric emissions through a succession of high performing filtration stages of the combustion gases.

« Over the coming years, we intend to reduce even further the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by partly replacing the petroleum coke with biomass, available in the Gaspé region. This partial conversion to biomass is at the very heart of the concept of this new cement plant » added Mr. Gagnon.

McInnis Cement has released, on a voluntary basis, the documents related to the environmental assessment of thePort-Daniel cement plant project, although the project is not subject to the BAPE process. However, the environmental Impact study has been updated – a comprehensive, rigorous and meticulous undertaking performed by dozens of professionals from independent firms – and has been available on the McInnis Cement website sinceNovember 2013. Moreover, the monitoring committee of the project has been active since March 2013 and an information office has been opened in Port-Daniel since June 2013 to answer questions of citizens and workers wishing to learn more about the project.

« We have received at our offices people who are proud to see this major project move forward, as well as workers pleased to be part of the construction of a project that will have a significant economic impact for years to come, and that will provide quality jobs to the Gaspé region. The Port-Daniel cement plant will favorably position Quebec on the North American export market and strengthen its competitiveness in the cement industry. For years, we haven't seen such a unique project of its type and size in all of eastern North America. We are determined to make the Port-Danielcement plant a sustainable and profitable project for all Quebeckers », concluded Mr Gagnon.

CANADA: Du ciment coréen pour construire la cimenterie de Port-Daniel

La cimenterie de Port-Daniel, massivement financé par le gouvernement du Québec, sera construite avec du ciment importé de la Corée du Sud, a appris notre Bureau d’enquête.

L’investissement de 1,1 $ milliard dans la cimenterie de Port-Daniel n’aurait jamais pu voir le jour sans l’aide d’un demi-milliard $ du gouvernement du Québec.

Malgré cette participation gouvernementale, notre Bureau d’enquête a appris que presque la totalité des 20 000 à 25 000 tonnes qui seront vendues par Provincial Béton pour la construction de la future cimenterie, proviendra de la Corée du Sud.

Long voyage

Le ciment fabriqué par le groupe Tong Yang aura parcouru par bateau une distance de plus 10 000 kilomètres, en passant par le canal de Panama, pour remonter le long de la côte Atlantique et longer la côte gaspésienne où sera construite à Port-Daniel la future cimenterie.

À la fin du voyage, on déchargera le ciment coréen au port de Québec pour l’acheminer par camion aux usines de béton de Chandler, Gaspé et Port-Daniel du groupe Provincial Béton.

Selon nos informations, le prix de la tonne de ciment au Québec varie entre 100 et 150 $. Même après ce long voyage, le prix du ciment sud-coréen est encore, toujours selon nos informations, de 20 à 30 $ la tonne moins cher.

Béton Provincial et les cimenteries

Pour André Bélanger, PDG de Provincial Béton, une entreprise à 100 % québécoise qui possède plus de 80 usines de béton, «c’est la seule façon de se frayer un chemin à travers les cimenteries qui sont contrôlées soit par les Français, les Suisses ou les Italiens».

Ciment McInnis, promoteur du projet de la cimenterie de Port-Daniel et qui a donné le contrat à Provincial Béton, n’éprouve aucune gêne.

«On achète du béton d'une entreprise québécoise qui a été partie par des Québécois de la Gaspésie et qui s'appelle Béton Provincial qui s'est fait à la force du poignet pendant des années», a affirmé Christian Gagnon, PDG de Ciment McInnis.

Luc Papillon de Ciment Québec en a gros sur le cœur contre les gouvernements du Parti Québécois et maintenant du Parti libéral qui soutiennent Ciment Mc Innis, alors que les quatre grandes cimenteries fonctionnent entre 60 et 65 % de leur capacité.

«On constate que le gouvernement n’a aucune espèce de conscience protectionniste en ce qui a trait aux industries existantes», a-t-il déclaré à notre Bureau d’enquête.

Non seulement il n’y pas de tarifs douaniers sur le ciment importé, mais avec les tarifs d’électricité consentis à la cimenterie, l’industrie estime maintenant à plus d’un demi-milliard $ les avantages obtenus par la nouvelle cimenterie.

CANADA: Québec dit oui au projet de cimenterie en Gaspésie

La communauté de Port-Daniel-Gascons, en Gaspésie, peut pousser un soupir de soulagement. Le gouvernement Couillard a annoncé lundi qu'il allait de l'avant avec le projet de cimenterie de l'entreprise Ciment McInnis.

Le ministre de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et des Exportations, Jacques Daoust, compte allouer 350 millions $ pour ce projet estimé à 1,1 milliard de dollars.

Le ministre Jacques Daoust avait émis certaines réserves au cours des dernières semaines vis-à-vis du plan d'affaires et du montage financier du projet, notamment en remettant en question les sommes investies par le gouvernement.

«Nous avons remis en question trois aspects, soit le montage financier, les retombées de l'entente sur les accords commerciaux et la solidité du plan d'affaires. Ayant obtenu des réponses satisfaisantes à propos de chacun de ces aspects, nous sommes maintenant en mesure d'appuyer ce projet porteur d'importantes retombées économiques pour la région de la Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine», a déclaré Jacques Daoust par communiqué lundi.

La contribution financière faite par Investissement Québec comprend un prêt de 250 millions $ et un investissement de 100 millions $ en capital-actions.

«En destinant sa production au marché nord-américain de l'exportation et en s'engageant à ne pas produire de béton, Ciment McInnis renforcera la compétitivité du Québec dans l'industrie du ciment sans être un concurrent des cimenteries intégrées qui sont exploitées au Québec», a dit Jacques Daoust.

Si on inclut les 100 millions $ investis par la Caisse de dépôt et placement, la somme des fonds publics investis dans le projet de cimenterie s'élève à 450 millions $.

Le projet prévoit la création de 200 emplois directs liés à la mise en exploitation de la cimenterie prévue en 2016.

RÉACTIONS PARTAGÉES DE L'OPPOSITION

Le porte-parole du Parti québécois (PQ) en matière de finances, Nicolas Marceau, s'est réjoui que les libéraux aillent de l'avant avec le projet qui avait été annoncé par le gouvernement Marois l'hiver dernier.

«Le gouvernement a entendu raison et je suis très content de ça, a-t-il dit. On a un projet qui va permettre de diversifier l'économie de la Gaspésie et qui va créer des jobs. La Gaspésie en a besoin.»

La réaction était tout autre du côté de Québec solidaire (QS), qui s'inquiète de l'impact qu'aura la cimenterie sur l'environnement. La formation de gauche estime que les 450 millions $ de fonds publics investis dans le projet auraient pu servir à diversifier l'économie de la région, plutôt qu'à «subventionner la destruction du climat».

«Comment le Québec peut-il lutter efficacement contre les changements climatiques si la cimenterie de Port-Daniel-Gascons est susceptible d'ajouter 1,7 million de tonnes de gaz à effet de serre par année à notre bilan? a demandé le député de Mercier, Amir Khadir. Alors que les dérèglements climatiques sont sur toutes les lèvres, notre gouvernement nous propose une augmentation de 2,1 % des gaz à effet de serre. C'est le monde à l'envers.»

CANADA: Holcim-Lafarge’s cement mega deal could shake up Canada’s construction industry

Canada’s construction industry faces a major shakeup in the wake of the proposed merger of cement makers Holcim Ltd. and Lafarge SA as the country’s competition watchdog eyes forced asset sales that could attract significant interest from bidders.

Roughly half of the country’s cement market is now held by the two companies, a potentially unpalatable market concentration in the eyes of the federal Competition Bureau should the European building material producers succeed in their merger.

Industry officials expect that by year’s end, the regulator will order the combined company to divest a sizable number of assets in Canada — perhaps even Holcim or Lafarge’s entire operation in Eastern Canada.

“There is absolutely no way Ottawa is going to allow Lafarge and Holcim to keep those assets,” a person close to Lafarge said Monday, noting the companies have one cement plant each in Ontario and Quebec as well as separate construction aggregate and ready-mix operations.

Possible buyers include private equity firms such as New York-based Blackstone Group, which last month hired an Onex Corp. investment specialist to help it hunt for opportunities in Canada. Blackstone is already present in the sector through its Denver-based holding Summit Materials.

Existing industry players like Mexico-based Cemex and German-headquartered HeidlebergCement AG would also likely express interest, though it’s unclear how much current financial firepower they have to pull off a big transaction. Almost all the world’s cement players have been retrenching after the credit crisis and global recession peeled away demand for building materials, forcing some companies to run their operations at a loss and leaving others over-leveraged from previous acquisitions.

Lafarge and Holcim’s combined Canadian operations generate $750-million to $800-million in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to one industry insider who asked not to be named. “Cash generation of that magnitude is certain to attract long-term investors,” the person said.

Jona, Switzerland-based Holcim and Paris-based Lafarge announced last month plans to merge their operations in a mega deal that would create a new producer with annual revenue topping US$40-billion. Management of the two companies said at the time they believed they would be required to sell assets representing 18% of that revenue to satisfy competition regulators in various countries.

Together Holcim and Lafarge employ about 9,000 people in Canada.

Whoever buys the divested Canadian assets will likely keep the cement plants operating with existing staff, investing as needed to upgrade the facilities. The business represents a tremendous money-making opportunity in a market that nevertheless remains challenging.

A December 2013 study on the cement market by independent economist Colin Sutherland concluded that Quebec currently has about 1.2 million tons per year of unused capacity while eastern Pennsylvania and New York has about 0.6 million tons.

That means many plants are operating well below maximum output.

Plans by Quebec’s well-known Bombardier-Beaudoin family to launch a $1-billion cement plant in the chronically underemployed Gaspé region have thrown the industry for a loop, generating a swarm of criticism from competitors and lawmakers in both Canada and the United States.

The family’s McInnis Cement unveiled plans this year for a new factory in Port-Daniel-Gascons that would produce 2.2 million tons of cement per year, largely for export by ship to the United States.

The project, championed unequivocally by the opposition Parti Québécois, is being billed as a saviour for the region because it will support 1,500 construction jobs and work for 200 permanent plant employees.

“This is a historic project, a project that brings with it an extraordinary collective hope,” Sylvain Roy, the PQ National Assembly member for the Gaspé’s Bonaventure riding, told reporters last week.

Under former financial minister Nicolas Marceau, the PQ committed $350-million of public money to the plant and adjoining marine terminal, notably via a $100-million equity investment and $250-million loan.

Quebec’s newly elected Liberal government, facing a $3.1-billion budgetary deficit this fiscal year, is cool to the project. It is reviewing its spending commitments in the matter, knowing full well that there could be a political backlash if it decides to reneg on the previous government’s pledge.

At the same time, there is also uncertainty about efforts to raise the balance of the project cost through private financing.

National Bank is said to be leading an effort to find lenders for the project but is facing concern over market saturation.

Meanwhile, appeals for federal money appear to have fallen flat. According to sources, Business Development Bank of Canada has ended its earlier involvement while Export Development Canada was approached but declined to commit any funds.

CANADA: Firm innovates concrete production with carbon capture

Carbon dioxide emissions, along with other greenhouse gases, is a contributor to global warming, but one company has found a way to use it in concrete production such that it now contributes to carbon reduction instead.

CarbonCure Technologies, a clean-tech company based in Halifax Nova Scotia in Canada, has devised a way to inject carbon dioxide into the production of concrete blocks. According to the firm, this not only helps cement and concrete manufacturers to create a significantly green building material, but it also addresses the wider concern of global emissions reduction.

The firm, which started to attract attention in 2012, uses the concept of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in its CarbonCure system. The patent-pending technology takes carbon dioxide waste, such as those from large emitters like refineries and fertilizer plants, and mixes it into the concrete during the production phase. The chemical reaction that happens, the firm explains, is a reversal of the process used to make cement, a key ingredient in concrete.

Cement represents about five per cent of anthropogenic global carbon dioxide emissions, according to a 2009 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

As a result, concrete manufacturers that have been retrofitted with this technology are able to produce concrete blocks that are stronger, cheaper and green, said Niven to The Financial Post. “It’s that triple-win that makes it really attractive to producers,” he added.“If you look at concrete, cement starts off as CaCO3 [or solid limestone], it’s heated in cement kilns, and this releases one molecule of CO2 for every molecule of lime. We’re reversing that reaction – we’re providing a supplementary curing reaction,” said Robert Niven, founder of CarbonCure Technologies in recent report by environmental website TreeHugger.

The firms are also able to manufacture the construction material using less energy, while those in the building industry who opt to use it can receive credits in green building certification programs like LEED, note CarbonCure.

However, the biggest advantage of the technology, the company points out, is that “100,000 grey blocks absorb the same amount of CO2 as 92 full grown trees will absorb in a year”. They added that more carbon dioxide is captured than is emitted during the manufacture and transport of these CarbonCure blocks, reducing emissions by up to 20 per cent. 

Carbon capture and storage, also referred to as carbon sequestration, was highlighted in the latest Working Group III report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which focused on climate change mitigation across different emissions scenarios. CCS was mentioned alongside the need to increase deployment of renewable energy and bioenergy.

Niven said the amount of emissions reduction per building may vary depending on the quantity of blocks used, but the potential is there as three billion blocks are produced annually in North America alone. In addition, “the North American market for concrete blocks and bricks is projected to increase to 4.3 billion units per year by 2014,” Hilal El-Hassan and Yixin Shao noted in their study on “Carbon Storage through Concrete Block Carbonation Curing”.

But beyond this region, he has plans to enter the BRIC markets: Brazil, Russia, India and China. The company’s goal is to eventually have every concrete block and building in the world made with their technology, he said.

CANADA: Cement industry furious after Quebec gives $350 million to competing factory

The cement industry reacted with “anger, even fury” Friday after Pauline Marois confirmed Quebec would invest $350 million in a $1-billion cement factory in Gaspésie.

But Laurent Beaudoin, the driving force behind the McInnis Cement project, said in a telephone interview that “it’s because these guys are in the markets we’re targeting (in the U.S. northeast), and they don’t want to see us around. We’ve done a lot of work on efficiency (for the future plant) and it’ll be one of the most modern and productive in the world. And they haven’t invested in their facilities in 40 years.”

Beaudoin is chairman of aircraft and rail manufacturer Bombardier Inc. and the principal in personal investment firm Groupe Beaudier, which controls McInnis Cement.

The industry and unions representing the four existing cement kilns in Quebec said they were gobsmacked by the announcement of the funding for McInnis Cement, which announced it would go ahead with the vast industrial project that will start construction this spring. At completion, slated for 2016, it would produce 2.2 million tons of cement powder annually, with a possible 15 per cent increase subsequently.

Michael McSweeney, president of the Cement Association of Canada, said in a telephone interview that “our members are feeling anger, even fury” that the vast sum of taxpayer money Quebec is spending would harm his four members, whose businesses were built with private financing. The four Quebec plants received a total of about $7 million in funding for various projects from Quebec over the last 25 years, he said.

The project is not only unnecessary, McSweeney argued, but would seriously exacerbate the cement overcapacity that is expected to last for another decade.

“We are operating at probably 60 per cent of our capacity, there are people laid off, we have never been sold out since the Montreal Olympics (in 1976), and we are still in a recession. And the U.S. northeast (where McInnis says it will export most of its output) is in a disastrous recession.”

“I think the Quebec government is doing this for political points coming into an election. This project has been talked about for many years, it’s been on the drawing board for 25 years. And I don’t know why anybody who takes a minimal amount of time to understand the cement fundamentals could think that this plant could work, especially in the next 10 years.”

He said there is an unused capacity of about 1.2 million tons annually in Quebec, plus another 600,000 tons in Pennsylvania and New York.

McSweeney also urged environmental groups to “hold (McInnis’s) feet to the fire” on environmental permits for the project.

One of the previous management groups that weighed the project obtained an environmental permit for clearing the land.

“But if Quebec is going to invest $350 million,” said McSweeney, “they should have to apply for every permit required — water, land, greenhouse gases, construction. Like we had to do.”

But Beaudoin dismissed that.

After Groupe Beaudier bought the quarry with 450 million tons of limestone that is to serve as feedstock for the plant for about a century, “we asked if we had to go to the BAPE (Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement) and the Quebec government said no. We had the (initial land clearing) permit and all we have to do is upgrade it.”

The plant will surpass stricter environmental norms that will come into effect in the U.S. in 2015, Beaudoin said.

McSweeney said “it sounds like Quebec could have the tendency to look the other way.”

He said he was astounded that Quebec would devote $350 million in a project that should be privately financed “when we need a Champlain Bridge, we need all sorts on infrastructure things.”

In a telephone interview, Investissement Québec president Mario Albert swatted away suggestions the project was not viable and was an electoral ploy for votes in Gaspésie, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Quebec.

“Laurent Beaudoin is not in business to lose money. And they did a very serious analysis with the Caisse (de dépot et placement du Québec). These are serious people and it’s a viable project.”

He said that the oversupply is “theoretical.”

“True, at full capacity there would be an overcapacity, but these are very old plants, as are the U.S. ones, and they don’t operate nearly at full capacity.”

“Currently, Quebec manufacturers actually import cement.”

Beaudoin said that his plant would supply that roughly 300,000 tons of cement the four currently import from South Korea — in addition to the U.S. Northeast.

The Quebec government will provide guaranteed loans totalling $250 million and will take an equity stake worth about $100 million “to have our say in the project in future,” said Albert.

Groupe Beaudier and the Caisse will form an as-yet unnamed joint venture that will have a 51-per-cent stake in the project. It will be presided over by Christian Gagnon, whom Beaudoin said has 35 years’ experience in the cement industry around the world.

The Caisse is injecting $100 million while Groupe Beaudier is investing $150 million.

Beaudoin said that other “smaller, well-heeled investors,” many of them Quebecers, also agreed to invest. He would not name them but said some are well-known.

The National Bank of Canada is managing the group investment but is not investing itself, said Beaudoin.

CANADA: Holcim Manufactures and Supplies Portland-Limestone Cement in Ontario and Quebec

A new class of cement called Portland-limestone cement (PLC) will become mainstream in Ontario and Quebec.

The Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing recently announced that PLC is referenced in the Ontario Building Code (OBC). In Quebec, the Régie du Bâtiment approved PLC as an 'alternative solution' to General Use (GU) cement. Holcim (Canada) Inc.'s cement plants in Mississauga, Ontario and Joliette, Quebec, manufacture PLC and have been supplying the materials for customer trials with ready-mix producers and concrete product manufacturers in both provinces.

PLC has strong environmental and sustainable construction benefits. Manufacturing PLC generates significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions and up to 10 per cent fewer carbon dioxide emissions. These reductions are achieved as up to 15 percent of the clinker used to produce regular Portland cement is replaced by limestone. Additionally, PLC shows comparable strength performance and can carry similar amount of Supplementary Cementing Material (SCM) as GU.

The manufacture of PLC at Holcim Canada is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 130,000 tonnes, which is the equivalent to taking more than 25,000 cars off the road or planting 3,300,000 trees, as well as reducing the dependence on virgin materials.

"We are delighted that PLC is being referenced in the Ontario Building Code as this enables us to provide more sustainable construction solutions to our customer," said Paul Ostrander, President and Chief Executive Officer of Holcim Canada. "PLC produces a concrete as strong and durable as that made with regular General Use cement and manufacturing PLC generates significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions and up to 10% fewer CO2 emissions." Mr. Ostrander further added that the building material industry is currently pursuing the recognition of PLC in the LEED® building rating system.

Last year, the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario carried out two trials on existing Central Region contracts utilizing PLC. The first trial used PLC in a cast-in-place concrete barrier wall section, located on the westbound QEW between Brant St. and Burloak Drive in Burlington. Based on the favourable outcome, a second trial was performed in September 2010 using PLC in slipformed concrete pavement in Mississauga on an exit lane to Hurontario Street of Highway 401 eastbound. Both trials represented the first field applications of the new cement in structural and pavement applications by a public agency in Canada.

PLC is approved by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA A 3001 and A 23.1) and was referenced in the National Building Code of Canada on November 29, 2010. PLC was approved by Régie du Bâtiment du Québec on February 15, 2011, as an 'alternative solution' for GU cement, and on February 17, 2011, PLC was adopted into the Ontario Building Code.