Rev Dr Dorothy A Jeffery an ordained minister with the United Church of Canada is the spokesperson for Faith Leaders opposing BC’s coal port expansion.
Continue reading Faith Leaders Opposing BC’s Coal Port ExpansionBy Roy L Hales
Fifty one of BC’s faith leaders have written Christy Clark an open letter requesting she reconsider her decision to approve the expansion of coal facilities on Texada Island. This follows the discovery, last month, that the provincial government secretly approved a plan to expand for a tenfold to twentyfold increase of the material being exported to China. They wrote that coal is “the fossil fuel most directly linked to the rise of CO2 emissions in China” and “making money at the expense of the health and prosperity of the planet is wrong.”
Though Port Metro Vancouver is expected to release its final decision about the Fraser Surrey Docks next month, there is little doubt that the proposal will be approved. An estimated four million tonnes per year of thermal coal will soon be coming up from the US. Will the Fraser Surrey Docks Expansion Bring Aerosolized Coal Dust?
By Roy L Hales
Port Metro Vancouver will not make a final decision about the Surrey Fraser Docks’ application to build a Direct Transfer Facility until June. According to Tim Blair, Senior Planner of Port Metro Vancouver, they are waiting for Surrey Fraser Docks to submit a health assessment. One has to wonder if it is not a foregone conclusion. Blair said that SNC Lavelin, the same company that prepared the proposed coal facility’s Environmental Impact Statement, was retained for the health assessment.
In their original report, SNC Lavelin stated the proposed terminal would “not likely cause significant adverse effects to the environment or human health.”
By Roy L Hales
Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) is not ready to make a decision regarding Surrey Fraser Dock’s application to build a Direct Transfer Facility to handle up to 4 million metric tonnes of coal at their facility in Surrey, B.C.
In a press release issued today, The Port said there are areas that it will “require further information (from Surrey Fraser Docks) , particularly around the assessment of the potential effects of the project on human health.”
