Vegetation Control

Herbicides – Hydro-Québec's Position

When required and following an environmental assessment of the host environment, Hydro-Québec considers that careful, selective use of herbicides is a vegetation management strategy that can effectively meet the company's main objective, which is to ensure system reliability, safeguard the health and safety of the public and Hydro-Québec employees, while respecting the environment in which operations are carried out.

The use of these products must, however, comply with the federal and provincial legislation in effect as well as the company's internal guidelines-in particular, environmental clauses that go beyond existing regulations.

Many independent scientific studies have shown that it is possible to use certain herbicides without jeopardizing the health of workers and the public or harming the environment, provided that such operations are performed by qualified personnel and that effective measures are taken to protect various components of the environment.

To ensure the safety of workers and the public and maintain system reliability, Hydro-Québec must periodically control the vegetation in its transmission line rights-of-way, at switchyards and telecommunications sites, and on dikes and dams. The company applies the concept of "integrated vegetation management" - advocated by Québec's Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP) and applied by nearly all Canadian and U.S. electric utilities - i.e., using the right method (or combination of methods) in the right place, at the right time, taking into account the characteristics of host environments and with a view to promoting the establishment and maintenance of compatible plant communities. In other words, the company's objective is not to eliminate all vegetation at a given site, but only those plant species that are incompatible with system reliability.

When necessary and following an environmental study of the host environment, in some cases Hydro-Québec uses herbicides on a selective basis to control incompatible vegetation.

• All the products used by Hydro-Québec are approved by Health Canada for the particular use that is made of them.
• None of the herbicides used by Hydro-Québec is recognized as being a carcinogen. All are biodegradable and do not concentrate in the food chain. They decay rapidly when exposed to light and to micro-organisms in the soil. If ingested, these products are quickly and naturally excreted through the feces and urine.
• As used by Hydro-Québec, i.e., in compliance the regulations in effect, these products are not toxic to wild animals (wildlife).
• Herbicides are applied according to provincial regulations, notably the Pesticides Management Code.
• The company's internal guidelines are more stringent than the laws and regulations currently in effect in Québec.
• All sensitive components (wells, rivers and streams, wildlife habitats, etc.) are identified in advance and no pesticide is applied in those areas.