Controversial Lower Mainland marine terminal expansion gets greenlight – BC
Ottawa has given the green light to a controversial new marine container terminal in the Lower Mainland, with hundreds of legally binding conditions it believes will make the project safe.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada approved the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project (RBT2), a port expansion led by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, on Thursday.
“This project would increase the port’s capacity by 50 per cent,” reads a news release from the agency.
“Without this port expansion, $3 billion in added GDP would be jeopardized by capacity shortages.”
The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, or RBT2, is a proposal to build a new, three-berth terminal in Roberts Bank with the goal of supporting the future region’s trading needs.
Private investments and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will fund its estimated $3.5 billion cost.
According to the project’s website, the new terminal would be located in “deep, subtidal waters to minimize new environmental effects.”
City of Delta comes out in opposition to one of two projects proposed for Roberts Bank Terminal
Councillors in the Lower Mainland city of Delta have unanimously opposed the project, citing environmental concerns, as have a dozen scientists with expertise on Chinook salmon, southern resident killer whales and the Fraser River estuary.
Coastal First Nations in Canada and the U.S. had also called for a full stop on the project until a cumulative impact study could be completed. Their concerns included impacts on their treaty-protected fishing rights and adverse effects on endangered species like the southern resident killer whale.
In 2020, a federal review panel found the marine terminal expansion would have “adverse residual and cumulative effects” on the ecosystem. It made 71 recommendations to mitigate pollution and noise, and on marine mammals, migratory birds, local socio-economic conditions, quality of life impacts, and more.
The report found the project’s proposed offsetting plan for aquatic species, totalling 29 hectares, would be “insufficient to compensate” for the project-induced habitat loss of 177 hectares. Wetlands would be negatively impacted, as would species including the barn owl, Dungeness crab, and Chinook salmon.
The report also noted RBT2 would cause “significant adverse and cumulative effects” on use of lands and resources by several First Nations whose traditional territories overlap with the project and shipping area. Tsawwassen First Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation, in particular, would suffer adverse effects on cultural heritage.
First Nations against Roberts Bank Terminal 2
Thursday’s approval included 370 conditions for protecting the environment, local wildlife and First Nations land-use activities.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will be required to install safe fish passage infrastructure, develop habitat creation programs, limit in-water construction, use zero-emission cargo handling equipment, and monitor impacts on salmon and biofilm.
It will also have to create a marine mammal detection and response plan, keep noise levels below a certain level, and reduce or delay activities when southern resident killer whales are present.
The approval comes with $45 million from Ottawa to “accommodate project impacts on Indigenous rights,” by supporting local heritage and stewardship activities.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority must also provide a $150-million financial guarantee to ensure funds are available for the first three years to comply with the conditions of project approval.
The port authority’s Duncan Wilson previously expressed confidence the project can be done safely while adding, “something in the neighbourhood of about 163 football fields’ worth of new fish habitat, which will be very beneficial to juvenile salmon.”
In a Thursday news release, Ecojustice panned Ottawa’s approval, noting some of the world’s largest salmon runs pass through the project area and rely on the estuary as a safe place to grow. The Impact Assessment Agency falls under the purview federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
“Construction will place further stress on the Fraser estuary, which has already lost more than 70 per cent of its floodplain habitat,” the environmental lawyers’ group wrote.
“This decision is at odds with Minister Guilbeault’s statements at the recent 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal (COP15), where he pressed governments to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.”
B.C. project looks to reintroduce beavers to areas to replace decommissioned dams
The federal government says the Ottawa Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project is needed, and expected to create 1,500 direct jobs in a port that contributes roughly $12 billion of GDP to Canada each year.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says it has signed impact benefit agreements with 26 First Nations out of 46 consulted.
Construction is expected to last six years.
