A potential victory for those concerned about the Fraser and the Strait, but unanswered questions remain for Fraser River coal port
Vancouver, BC May 4, 2015 – Fraser Surrey Docks (FSD) announced today that it proposes to forgo towing open barges of US thermal coal from its Fraser River facility to Texada Island. Instead, FSD is considering applying to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to amend its project permit to load ocean going vessels directly in Surrey.
“We never had any confidence that FSD or the Port had a solid plan for monitoring or managing coal dust and coal waste water losses from barges in the Strait of Georgia and the Fraser, or for safely storing loaded barges of self combusting coal in Metro Vancouver municipalities. These changes are a potential victory for those concerned about the impacts this project would have had on the Fraser and the Strait of Georgia.” said Kevin Washbrook, director with Voters Taking Action on Climate Change (VTACC). “However the proposed changes raise a whole new set of questions. The plans have shifted, from a coal transfer facility to a full-on coal port on the Fraser, a short distance from homes and across the river from downtown New Westminster. “
The proposal to load ocean going vessels in Surrey also raises questions about the stockpiling of coal on site, a plan the Port Authority ordered FSD to remove in earlier iterations of the project. Documents released today by FSD indicate that the potential to barge coal will be retained as a secondary option, but the documents are unclear if barges would be employed to store coal or to shift it to Texada Island for loading if ocean going vessels are delayed in reaching Surrey.
It is possible that the Musqueam Nation’s legal challenge of the Port’s permit approval for the FSD coal export project played a role in the decision to drop plans to barge coal on the Fraser and across the Strait of Georgia. It is also possible that declining global coal prices made the double handling of coal in the original proposal uneconomical.
While it is up to FSD to determine if there is a business case for building a new coal export terminal in Metro Vancouver, it is up to our federal Port Authority to determine if this is the best use for our public port lands, given the global shift away from thermal coal as a power source. Recently the UN Climate Chief Christine Figueres stated that if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change, “the science is clear – there is no space for new coal.”
VTACC remains opposed to the FSD coal port on the basis that it will make climate change worse. Nonetheless VTACC urges the Port Authority to fully consult the public regarding the coal port changes proposed by FSD. Now is the appropriate time for the Port Authority to rebuild public trust by engaging in meaningful consultation with local governments and health authorities.
“We remained concerned that neither the Port Authority nor FSD are looking out for the public’s best interests on this issue,” said Washbrook. “FSD is still going to court in June to challenge Metro Vancouver’s authority to regulate air quality in the region. If they are going to that much effort to challenge a ticket over soya bean dust, how likely are they to cooperate over the issue of coal dust?”
FSD’s proposal to load ocean going vessels with coal on the Fraser River also raises questions about further expansion plans after the George Massey Tunnel is removed. Both FSD and the Port Authority have been enthusiastic supporters of removal of this obstruction to allow deeper draft vessels access further up the river. Larger vessels arriving at FSD could mean large coal stock piles on site and increased US coal train traffic through White Rock, Crescent Beach, North Delta and Surrey.
VTACC does not expect its joint legal challenge of the FSD permit approval to be substantially impacted by these new developments. The joint applicants have been successful in all procedural challenges in the case to date, and Surrey and New Westminster will go before the court in June with their applications to intervene in the case. VTACC and Communities and Coal allege that the Port failed to consider climate impacts in making its decision on the permit, and that actions by the Port around the permit approval give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias.
Fraser Surrey Docks also has a waste water permit application active before Metro Vancouver. Over 3000 public comments were submitted in opposition to that application.