Against Port Expansion in the Fraser Estuary BC

The Fraser Estuary is threatened with even more habitat destruction.

A new presentation has just been released. It describes the Fraser Estuary and Roberts Bank, the habitat, ecology, environment and the threats and environmental degradation that it faces. View it here

APE_-_Fraser_Estuary_Threats_March_2021.pdf

Canada and Britsh Columbia annouce new Nature Agreement.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canada-and-british-columbia-launch-development-of-a-new-nature-agreement-851016797.html

In announcing this agreement here is what Minister Wilkinson Environment and Climate Change said:

"We live in a province with unique species and ecosystems found nowhere else in the world. Protecting and promoting the recovery of threatened species is a responsibility and requires action based on collaboration. The British Columbia–Canada Nature Agreement will ensure we are working with our federal counterparts, Indigenous nations, and others to define new approaches that are supported by science and Indigenous knowledge. These first pilot projects will strengthen habitat protection for the threatened species which depend on it, such as the Spotted Owl, and help build a systemic approach to protection of biodiversity." 

So let's all hope he follows through and as part of building a "a systemic approach to protection of biodiversity" that he also rejects the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project.

To help him achieve that send him an email to: ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca and copy in BC Minister George Heyman at ENV.minister@gov.bc.ca

50 years ago on Feb. 2 the Ramsar Convention came into effect, to highlight the importance of wetlands to the plsnet and human well-being.

In 2012 The Fraser Estuary received the designation as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Will it remain a wetland of international importance if Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is built? Not likely.

Is The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2)
environmentally sustainable?

Answering just one question determines if RBT2 should be approved. The question - are the significant adverse environmental effects that will result from building RBT2 fully mitigable?

On August 24 2020 Environment and Climate Change Canada Minister Jonathan Wilkinson acknowledged, “ …that even taking into account mitigation measures the Review Panel determined that significant adverse effects to fish and fish habitat, including species at risk, human health, and current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes, among others were likely”. So is RBT2 mitigable? Is the project environmentally sustainable?

Not according to many who say NO, including:

1. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) scientists. In reports and published papers in independent internationally peer-reviewed scientific journals submitted to the Environmental Assessment Review Panel the scientists said the project’s impacts on biofilm (a critical food source for million of shorebirds) “are anticipated to be high in magnitude, permanent, irreversible, and, continuous”. In other words unmitigable. 
2. ECCC scientists also rebutted the Port’s claim that biofilm can be created, stating, “there are no accepted techniques to remediate for functional biofilm for shorebirds on intertidal mudflats”, nor enough other available habitat to replace what will be lost if RBT2 is built, therefore mitigation for this habitat loss is not possible.
3. The Canadian Wildlife Service, state Western Sandpipers have been declining at 2 percent a year and the entire species risks extinction if RBT2 is built.
4. Forty or more environmental and other groups including BC Nature, Birds Canada and Nature Canada have all registered opposition, stating RBT2 will result in significant adverse environmental effects that cannot be mitigated.
5. The cities of Richmond and Delta, both of whom voted to oppose RBT2.
6. Major international environmental organizations such as BirdLife International (which lists the Fraser Estuary as an “Important Bird Area” in danger) and the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.
7. Recently published UBC research states the Fraser Estuary is on the brink of collapse and 102 species are at risk of extinction. (Conservation Science and Practice Journal)
8. Internationally recognized scientists (Professors Pat Baird (SFU) and Peter Beninger (University of Nantes), experts in ecosystem function, have vigorously challenged the Port science – the Port science has never been published in an independent peer-reviewed scientific journal.
9. Georgia Strait Alliance and Ecojustice state the Southern Resident Killer Whales are subjected to increasing levels of underwater noise plus a lack of Chinook salmon that put them at increased risk of extinction, made much worse as a result of RBT2.
10. Raincoast Conservation and Rivers Institute (M.Rosenau) state RBT2 will impede the ability of juvenile salmon to access rearing habitat in the estuary and increase the risk of predation as the juveniles navigate around the port causeway, Deltaport and now (if built) RBT2.

If not mitigable then is RBT2 otherwise justifiable? Is an additional terminal needed on Roberts Bank because West Coast Canada is running out of terminal capacity as VFPA claims? Not according to the statistics. Despite claims of record growth VFPA’s 2019 and 2020 volumes have remained basically flat compared to 2018. Its twelve-year compound annual growth rate is below 3 percent. Global Container Terminals and DP World are both adding capacity in Vancouver. DP World has plans for a large expansion at Prince Rupert, all this giving the West Coast potential capacity of 10 million container’s (TEUs), sufficient to accommodate Canadian trade for decades to come without ever building RBT2.

On December 9 2020 MP Paul Manly presented e-petition 2828 to the House of Commons asking government to deny approval for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project.
In doing so he made the following statement:

"Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table e-petition 2828, which has 1,861 signatures.

     The petitioners are concerned about the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority proposal to build another container terminal at Roberts Bank, creating a massive new man-made island the size of 150 football fields.

    The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to maintain the environmental integrity of the Roberts Bank ecosystem for migratory birds, the endangered southern resident killer whales and other wildlife. They ask the government to deny approval of the Roberts Bank container terminal 2 project".

Watch the petition being presented here:

HoC_Sitting_No._46_15-22-17.mp4

Which part of NO does the Port of Vancover not understand?

NO to Roberts Bank Terminal 2:

• Said the city of Delta
• Said the city of Richmond
• Said almost 2000 Canadians who signed the House of Commons Petition
• Said Birds Canada, BC Nature, Birdlife International, Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, David Suzuki Foundation, Raincoast Conservation, Georgia Strait Alliance, Nature Canada, amongst the 40 environmental and other groups opposed to RBT2.
• Said Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) scientists, stating that “ECCC characterizes the Project's residual adverse impacts on biofilm due to predicted changes in salinity as potentially high in magnitude, permanent, irreversible, and, continuous”. These same scientists told the Review Panel that “ECCC's confidence in the ( Port’s) Environmental Impact Statement's predictions is characterized as low. In particular, impacts to biofilm could potentially implicate the long-term viability of Western Sandpipers as a species (IBID). ECCC similarly characterizes impacts to Western Sandpipers as potentially high in magnitude, permanent, irreversible, and continuous”.

It does not get any cleaner than that.

Canadians asked Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister of Environment Wilkinson and Members of Cabinet - please now do the right thing:

• Protect the unique Roberts Bank environment, 
• Protect birds, fishes, Southern Resident Killer Whales and other wildlife that all rely on the natural habitat and wetlands of Roberts Bank,
• Prevent species degradation from further port development,
• Prevent harm to residents living near Roberts Bank, 
• Prevent further traffic congestion caused by port truck traffic, 
• Stop the Port spending $4 billion of taxpayer funds, and

Tell Vancouver Fraser Port Authority the RBT2 project is cancelled.

What did they do? Nothing!! The Environment Minister in his response to the petition states:

" Once the Minister is satisfied that the requested information (from the Port) has been provided, the federal timeline will resume. The Port Authority’s responses to the information request will be posted to the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry. The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (the Agency) will then host a public comment period and seek input on the Port Authority’s responses. Additionally, the Agency will post the draft potential conditions online—a document outlining conditions that the Proponent must comply with to move forward with the Project. The public will be invited to submit comments on this document as well. The next step will be for the Minister to make decisions on the signiVcance of effects under CEAA 2012. The decisions will be based on science, facts and evidence, and informed by meaningful Indigenous consultation".