Construction at Northvolt AB’s new electric vehicle battery plant in Canada remains halted while a judge considers a conservation group’s request to stop the project until a detailed environmental analysis can be done.

The Centre Québécois du Droit de L’Environnement and three residents who live near the site are challenging a Quebec cabinet minister’s decision to authorize building work without a complete environmental assessment. 

“This decision is unreasonable, given the minister’s responsibility to protect wetlands and the species that live there,” the group said in their request for an injunction. They argued that the government rejected a residential project on the same land last year, and that it did not impose conditions to compensate for the losses caused by Northvolt’s construction.

The case is now before Justice David Collier of the Superior Court of Quebec. It’s not clear when he will rule. 

The battery plant was announced in September on a 420-acre site that spreads over the cities of Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, close to Montreal. The Canadian government and Quebec’s provincial government committed to pay about $2.7 billion toward the estimated $7 billion project cost, plus $4.6 billion in operating subsidies, to attract the plant — matching what the Swedish company could have received under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. 

Since the subsidies are phased out over time, a delay in getting the plant built might ultimately reduce the amount of government money received by Northvolt for the project. The company’s client list includes BMW, Volvo and Volkswagen. 

“We want to ensure that things are done well,” said Marc Bishai, the environmental group’s lawyer, adding that the goal is not to stall the project.

Before the injunction request, crews had already started to remove some of the 9,000 trees they will need to clear. 

“Despite not being obliged to do so, Northvolt voluntarily maintains the work suspension pending the court decision,” the company said in an emailed statement.

Northvolt is already paying $4.7 million in environmental compensation and must carry out some restoration after the plant is built. “The ministry absolutely does not give a blank check to the company,” government lawyer Stephanie Garon told the court Wednesday.

“I would say we need to do the things the right way, and I have all the confidence that the company is doing that,” Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Another challenge awaits Northvolt. The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, an Indigenous group, said in a news release that it has filed a lawsuit “to demand orders requiring the provincial and federal governments to engage in consultation” as the project will destroy wetlands.