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.
RBT2 Panel Report due out today
The RBT2 Review Panel released its report on March 27 2020 and sent it to the Environment Minister.
"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.”
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.
War on Science - Alive and Well in Ottawa
You will not be surprised to learn that over 400 days later still nothing has been received.
Does anybody in Ottawa care? Do federal agencies or the Port Authority care? It seems not.
National and International organizations care. Birdlife International, Birds Canada, BC Nature, Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network - they all care. They have all stated that Terminal 2 on Roberts Bank must not be built.
Do you care?
If you do write to the Minister of Environment Jonathan.Wilkinson@parl.gc.ca
