Port Metro Vancouver approves coal project at Fraser Surrey Docks
Posted August 21, 2014 3:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Port Metro Vancouver has approved a proposed direct coal transfer facility at Fraser Surrey Docks.
The port says there has been a significant amount of work and comprehensive studies have been carried out over the last two years to ensure the project is safe and concerns raised were addressed.
In granting a permit for Fraser Surrey Docks to build the facility along the Fraser River to handle four million metric tonnes of coal each year, Port Metro Vancouver says it has set out a set of conditions for the Docks to ensure environmental and safety standards are met.
Environmentalists, many residents and the region’s medical health officers have expressed concerns about the effect on air quality and potential harm to the surrounding environment.
Peter Xotta of Port Metro Vancouver, says the decision was not taken lightly but a comprehensive review found there were no unacceptable risks from the development.
Fraser Surrey Docks hired SNC Lavalin to review the proposal, and the resulting report concluded there would be no significant adverse effects to the environment or people’s health.
Construction on the expansion is set to begin in the fall of 2015.
The proposed facility would transfer coal from rail cars to barges, which would then carry the coal to nearby Texada Island to be shipped to Asia.
One group, Voters Taking Action Against Climate Change, says no one should trust the port or the docks and it isn’t buying the claim of no unacceptable risks.
“The Port Authority or Fraser Docks is hiring its own experts to make these decisions. They have consistently cut our public health agencies, the people who are mandated to look out for out health, out of the decision making process,” says Kevin Washbrook with VTAAC.
Washbrook says they’ll be challenging the decision and the fight isn’t over.
“Metro Vancouver doesn’t have to issue an air quality permit if they’re not satisfied, we’ll be marshaling experts for that debate for sure.”
