APE - Against Port Expansion in Delta, BC
Say NO to Roberts Bank Terminal 2
Watch Video To See Why!
APE - Against Port Expansion in Delta, BC
Say NO to Roberts Bank Terminal 2
Watch Video To See Why!
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Against Port Expansion in the Fraser Estuary BC

APE (Against Port Expansion in the Fraser Estuary BC) is a group of concerned citizens who recognize that plans for container terminal expansion on Roberts Bank (RBT2) will see the loss of globally-significant wetlands and habitat (classified as a Globally Significant Important Bird and Biodiversity Area - IBA) for migratory birds, shorebirds, waterfowl, salmon, herring, crabs and orca whales; degradation of the quality of life for thousands of Lower Mainland residents; and the industrialization of prime agricultural land.

NOW THE PANEL REPORT IS OUT, WE NEED YOUR HELP. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CABINET NOW HAS TO DECIDE WHETHER TO APPROVE RBT2. SIGN TNE PETITON TO TELL THEM TO DENY APPROVAL

This is a new petition. Here in the link:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/pm_trudeau_federal_env_minister_wilkinson_bc_premi_refuse_roberts_bank_terminal_2_rbt2_and_save_the_fraser_river_estuary/details/?fbclid=IwAR2xiK8bNeBrMWI9bXMtSXnCwLQKMy_KzK8BCnOMTRkLlguVdFwuv6WzuOQ

 

See what others are doing to stop RBT2:
Natural Legacies versus Waste

https://gardencitylands.wordpress.com/2020/04/04/fraser-voices-urges-federal-government-to-reject-roberts-bank-port-expansion/

Fraser Voices

https://www.facebook.com/FraserVoices/posts/2525873930958632?__cft__[0]=AZUdM4gLQGuLAuiIVb_6PxF5BNrdBoz4KiElrrlqVoUBShwuJp6UHSY5mWAGz0etwKLQsE10_Ss-qK7aGDQemFBPCb8nyQsjtbRBGMWEMaqncH-9Dc-WYdwptkuZASF4OsN487dcEmp0wBKuk9JfpC8C0GMYxI1uj79xp-tiD_FXKA&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

 

 

Panel Report - Devastating Enviromental Effects

The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) Panel Report, released March 30, has confirmed that if built RBT2 will cause significant adverse environmental effects in many diverse areas. 
If the Federal Government approves RBT2 the risk is it will:
  • severely damage the Roberts Bank ecosystem
  • compromise wetlands and wetland functions
  • put more than 50 bird species in Canada’s top Important Bird Area under threat
  • push the Western Sandpiper and the already endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales towards extinction
  • break the chain of the Pacific Flyway
  • attract international embarrassment and condemnation and violate trans-boundary treaties and the Migratory Birds Convention Act, adopted in 1917 and updated in 1994.

The Environmental Assessment Panel has for the most part submitted a good report. They document many areas of concern, risks to the environment, wildlife and human health. There is enough in this report to prevent RBT2 ever being built.  
 
Damage cannot be mitigated. 
Environment Canada scientists, supported by independent experts, have repeatedly stated that the damage caused by RBT2 will be immediate, permanent, continous and cannot be mitigated. The Panel proposed mitigation measures but many of these are hit-or-miss measures and will not fully compensate for either the species, or system-level environmental effects. Additionally mitigation has not even been devised for biofilm loss, nor for species level risks to Western Sandpipers. 
Support for stopping RBT2 is gaining momentum.
Articles have been published in the Delta Optimist, Business in Vancouver and elsewhere.
On April 23 Radio Canada aired a program by Isabelle Groc in the chronicle endangered species, talking about the migration of thousands of birds to Alaska.
Listen to it here:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/boulevard-du-pacifique/segments/chronique/166646/migration-oiseaux-especes-menacees-isabelle-groc
She told listeners that every year in April in Delta BC, the birds stop on Roberts Bank for a few weeks to recharge their batteries before continuing their long migration to the North. Isabelle explains to us why these birds chose Delta as a rest area, and how this area is threatened by the Port of Vancouver, who are trying to add a second container terminal in Delta on Roberts Bank.
 
The Narwhal has just released a report stating that Ottawa must reject the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project. Authored By Silke Nebel, VP conservation and science, Birds Canada, and Gauri Sreenivasan, director of policy, Nature Canada. Read it here:

https://thenarwhal.ca/opinion-roberts-bank-terminal-2-expansion-federal-government-should-reject-project/

Important to see two respected organizations also calling for RBT2 to be rejected.

RBT2 can be stopped.
Two reports analyze the Panels Findings. Read them here:
This report produced by APE's Executiver Director, Roger Emsley
Report_on_the_Roberts_Bank_Terminal_2_Project_April_23_2020.pdf

This report prepared by Mary Taitt Director Boundary Bay Conservation Committee
Boundary_Bay_Conservation_Committee_Report_on_RBT2_April_2020.pdf
 
Then take action to ensure RBT2 approval is DENIED.
Here is how:

1. If you are an environmental group send out a Press Release identifying the negative issues in the Panel report and demanding project approval be denied.
2. Groups and Individuals (especially in the Lower Mainland), send a letter to Minister Wilkinson (Environment), cc. Ministers Jordan (DFO), Garneau (Transport) and Qualtrough (also MP for Delta), as well as their own MPs. This letter needs to go well in advance of the ministerial decision date and ask them to support denial of the project’s approval.
3. Also write to the Ontario Federal Liberal Caucus, pointing out if RBT2 is approved another $4.0 Billion in federal funding may be going to the West.
4. Write to Ministers in BC, George Heyman (Environment) and Trvena (Transport)

Here are the email addresses of the Federal Ministers:

Minister Wilkinson: ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca,
Minister Garneau: TC.MinisterofTransport-MinistredesTransports.TC@tc.gc.ca
Minister Jordan: Bernadette.Jordan@parl.gc.ca
Minister Qualtrough: Carla.Qualtrough@parl.gc.ca

You can find the email address of your MP here:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en

The chair of the Federal Ontario Liberal Caucus is
Ms Ruby Sahota and her email address is:
Ruby.Sahota@parl.gc.ca 

Here are the email addresses of BC Ministers
Minister Heyman: ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Minister Trevena: Minister.Transportation@gov.bc.ca

RBT2 Panel Report due out today

The RBT2 Review Panel released its report on March 27 2020 and sent it to the Environment Minister. 

The Minister is expected to release that report to the public - as soon as March 30. Indeed according to the Terms of Reference:
"Upon receiving the report submitted by the Review Panel, the Minister will advise Aboriginal groups, government bodies, the public and other interested parties that the report is available.”

The attached paper describes in some detail the steps to be taken in making a decision as to whether the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project is approved.
 
 
Please remember, it is either the Environment Minister, or the Federal Cabinet, that makes the decision, not the Panel. The attached paper describes what the Minister has to take into consideration. In the event that the Cabinet is called upon it also details that process.
 
This paper puts down a clear marker for the decision makers - be it the Ministry of Environment or the Federal Cabinet.
 
Action from this point will be determined by what is in the Panel Report and how the Federal Government handles this.
 
It is very clear. Roberts Bank Terminal 2 will result in significant adverse environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated. Furthermore the effects that this project will likely cause cannot be justified. 

New Report - RBT2 Irreparable Environmental Harm

This new report provides the only complete story on Roberts Bank Container Terminal 2 and its environmental assessment by Federal Review Panel.

RBT2_Environmental_Issues_Feb_2020.pptx.pdf

In this report you will find:

  • The misinformation put out by VFPA on its market performance (poor) and its inaccurate projections for future volumes (missed the last five forecasts).
  • Market realities and a flawed business case for RBT2 (there is no business case - at $3.5 - $4.0 billion it would be the most expensive terminal anywhere in the world).
  • The unique Roberts Bank Environment, its values and how RBT2 will destroy it.
  • New independent peer-reviewed science that the Panel has not seen. It validates what Environment Canada has been saying all along. RBT2 will result in significant adverse environmental effects that will be immediate, continuous, and cannot be mitigated.
  • The fatally flawed partisan non-peer reviewed VFPA science is thereby debunked.
  • Details of the negative environmental impacts on birds, fishes, crabs, Orcas and humans.
  • A listing of the large number of groups and entities that are opposed to RBT2.
  • The mishandling by the Panel of the environmental assessment, its failure to exercise authority and its bias towards VFPA.
  • The political interference that has plagued the assessment all the way through.
  • Conclusions - details that demonstrate that RBT2 must never be built.
  • Reference links to the science, and reports.

 

If you find this disturbing then tell Jonathan Wilkinson, the Environment Minister. Call his North Vancouver Constituency Office 604 775 6333. Or email him at 
ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca

New Science Supports Environment Canada Scientists - T2 will decimate Roberts Bank

A new peer-reviewed study, by internationally recognized experts in wetland ecology, (now published in Frontiers in Marine Science in relation to the importance of biofilm for the breeding migration of Shorebirds) has confirmed what Environment Canada scientists have been saying all along. The ecosystem integrity of Roberts Bank risks being destroyed by further port development.

Read the new study here

Frontiers_in_Marine_Science_Intertidal_Biofilm_Frb_2020.pdf

The choice is very clear. Let the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority build a second container terminal on Roberts Bank and watch one of the richest and most important ecosystems for migrant and wintering waterbirds in Canada be destroyed. Or protect this important stopover site on the Pacific Flyway by preventing any further port or industrial development on Roberts Bank.  

Throughout the environmental assessment of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project (RBT2) these Environment Canada scientists have battled the Port Authority’s partisan non-peer reviewed science that has sought to downplay the environmental impacts. The fear has been that the Port Authority’s influence in Ottawa would override Environment Canada concerns. 

No longer. This new study, on the importance of biofilm for the breeding migration of shorebirds, validates the work done by Environment Canada scientists. They were right all along. If RBT2 is built it is likely to result in the significant degradation of one of the most important ecosystems, in terms of birds and biodiversity, in the whole of North America. As the scientists have repeatedly said, RBT2 will result in significant adverse environmental effects that cannot be mitigated.

When the Review Panel report is published - expected in a matter of weeks - the Minister of Environment will need to address two questions:
1. Will RBT2 result in significant adverse environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated? Clearly the answer is YES.
2. Is RBT2 in the national interest, sufficient to override the environmental issues that would result if RBT2 were built? That answer is a definite - NO. 

Will Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson do the right thing? Will he live up to the government’s commitment to protect internationally recognized wetlands? Or will he bow to the Port Authority’s desire for a new container terminal, even though there is no business case?

Write to him at ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca and tell him to reject the Roberts Bank Container Terminal 2 project.