new gates at trudeau airport probably won't have 'significant' environmental impact: adm
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aéroports de montréal (adm) has judged its plan to construct a jetty adding 16 boarding gates to montreal—pierre elliott trudeau international airport “is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.”
the decision comes after a 30-day public consultation period that federal law left in the hands of the airport authority.
critics told the gazette in late july that they only found out about the public consultation to assess the project’s environmental impact a few days before the july 27 deadline for comments. adm hadn’t advertised on its website or by press release that it was seeking public input on the project. the notice had been published on the website of the federal impact assessment agency of canada (iaac).
the adm’s july 30 “notice of determination” about its project’s environmental impact, also posted on the iaac website, specifies that the “construction” of the satellite jetty is not likely to cause significant adverse effects on the environment, and says adm will apply a series of mitigation measures to protect vegetation, water sources and air quality during construction work. the mitigation measures include putting in place a soundscape management plan “for the entire duration of the construction work” and using “less noisy work methods.”
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however, the notice does not talk about the environmental impact of operating a new jetty accommodating up to 28 aircraft and that may result in more takeoffs and landings by aircraft flying over montreal island, said duncan sanderson, a retired researcher and member of les pollués de montréal-trudeau. he wrote one of the 16 public submissions that adm told the gazette it received on the jetty project.
“what they’re calling a public consultation was a farce,” sanderson said.
“they opened a very short consultation period during the summer when people are on vacation.”
moreover, adm “didn’t address at all” the concerns that were raised about increased flights, he said. “i received an answer from (adm), and there was no mention at all about public concerns about increased number of flights.”
the jetty project is one component of adm’s $10-billion expansion plan for trudeau airport.
les pollués has also denounced that adm is holding separate environmental impact consultations on individual components of its overall plan.
“what they’ve done is they’ve broken down the changes to the airport to a series of small projects,” sanderson said.
“each of those actions require a project be put to the (iaac). but the total, the whole, leading to what we anticipate will be more flights, is not addressed.”
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however, adm spokesperson eric forest said it’s not the airport authority’s objective to increase air traffic, and noted that an increase in passenger traffic “does not necessarily mean a proportional increase in air traffic” due to today’s larger aircraft. in fact, there are fewer flights taking off or landing at montreal-trudeau right now than in past years, he said.
“adm aéroports de montréal’s desire to build a satellite jetty is primarily to better serve yul passengers, not to increase aircraft traffic,” forest said. “this has never been our mandate.”
the jetty is necessary, forest said, because during the summer, nearly 250 flights per week, or an average of 35 flights a day, are operating from remote parking and passengers are being transported to the airport terminal by shuttle.
“the addition of boarding gates will reduce the use of remote parking for aircraft, improve the passenger experience and overall increase operational fluidity at yul,” he said.
the adm’s determination that its jetty isn’t likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact is no surprise, said pierre lachapelle, president of les pollués. he calls the term “satellite jetty” a euphemism for “additional airport terminal.”
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lachapelle said his group has just written to federal environment and climate change minister julie dabrusin to request a meeting.
“we find it fundamentally wrong that the consultation is in the hands of a developer, and not of the government through the iaac, which is the guardian of the credibility of the consultation process, the common good and the public interest,” the letter says.
it adds: “we find it abnormal and wrong to have a process where a developer can present, over months and years, piece by piece, on a limited federal territory, what in effect constitutes a mega-project. the sum of these projects represents the scale of projects that require independent impact studies, a transparent information process and a public consultation that respects best practices.”
as the gazette reported last summer, complaints about noise from planes are also coming from east-end neighbourhoods like rosemont, 15 kilometres from the airport, because they’re under trudeau airport’s flight paths.
while it works on its expansion plan, adm is seeking authorization from transport canada to alter the overnight hours during which takeoffs and landings at trudeau airport are prohibited.
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the overnight curfew for all categories of planes would be shortened to 1 a.m. to 6 a.m., from the current 12 a.m. to 7 a.m. for takeoffs and 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. for landings for aircraft weighing over 45,000 kilograms. currently, lighter aircraft can fly 24 hours a day.
for the noisiest aircraft, adm says the new curfew would be extended to between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. the curfew for the most efficient aircraft, it says, would be 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.
exceptions to the curfew would be made for medical emergencies and flights delayed by weather conditions or operational delays beyond the airline’s control.
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