Expert suggests selling Tsawwassen ferry terminal
Posted October 19, 2013 12:44 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Eliminating the need for oil tanker traffic through the Burrard Inlet could be achieved by selling the Tsawwassen ferry terminal to Kinder Morgan, according to a ferry expert.
Andre Lemieux is a former chair of the Gabriola Ferry Advisory Committee and says the sale would eliminate that environmental concern and lower ferry fares at the same time.
Lemieux’s proposal would see Kinder Morgan forced to buy the terminal if they want to get approval to twin their existing pipeline.
The line would have to be extended from the Burnaby tanker terminal but that would be worth it because tankers would no longer have to navigate the narrow inlet.
“Extending the pipeline all the way down to Roberts Bank. One of the obvious locations that exists already is the ferry terminal,” says Lemieux.
He says that would also mean a closer link to the oil’s destination. “It’s only 200 metres from the US border and 17 miles from Cherry Point in the US.”
Tankers leaving Tsawwassen would join US tankers heading south in a major shipping lane.
He says a new ferry terminal at the airport would shorten the trip length, reducing ticket prices. “You build a terminal at Vancouver airport on Iona Island and that way traffic coming from Vancouver Island will be directly going into the rapid transit in Vancouver.”
Lowering the price of a ferry ride would come as welcome news anywhere in the Lower Mainland or on Vancouver Island.
He says the money from the sale would pay for construction costs and eliminate a major environmental concern.
Lemieux’s plan would also see BC Ferries sell the Nanaimo, Departure Bay, Duke Point and Gabriola terminals and then a build a system of bridges across Mudge and Gabriola Islands, to a new terminal on Valdes Island.
