Port of Vancouver, with its self-granted “supremacy” over Metro Vancouver and the ALR, recently changed its name from Port Metro Vancouver — but kept its ways. They’re not so great for our island city and estuary, the Fraser River Estuary. That’s a challenge.
A current issue is the port’s proposal for Roberts Bank Terminal 2. It would require an artificial island twice the size of the Garden City Lands. As well, a widened causeway and dredging would make the project directly harmful to wildlife and fish in a much larger area.
A B.C. Ministry of Environment guide describes what’s at stake: “Estuaries, formed where rivers enter the ocean and fresh water mixes with the saltwater environment, are among the most productive ecosystems on earth.”
That’s still fairly true of ours, but the port’s empire building doesn’t help.
Fortunately, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has a review panel assessing Terminal 2. At the panel’s request, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) recently warned there is “a risk of significant adverse environmental effects to biofilm (what the birds feed on) and consequently migratory shorebirds in particular the Western Sandpiper.”
Changes to biofilm could effect entire species of birds during the key spring migratory period. Yet the port brushed it off!
As well, the proposed monitoring and follow-up program is insufficient, ECCC reported.
I should also mention that 15 million cubic metres of fill would be dumped in the estuary to form the Terminal 2 island. It’s almost impossible to find that much clean fill, so much of it would likely be laced with PCBs. When those chemicals build up in fish, they also harm the health of fish eaters.
For British Columbia, especially Richmond and our estuary, there’s a much better alternative to Terminal 2. It could even be good for the port (as a Crown corporation), with a chance to regain respect in a new role. I’ll have to save the solution for another Digging Deep.
For now, you know enough to become involved if you wish. If you’d like to comment to the review panel, act quickly. The deadline is this Friday, Oct. 28.
To start, you could go to the Garden City Conservation page on Facebook or to my Natural legacies versus waste blog for tips and links.
In any case, by getting this far you’ve already done something to help. You’ve grown in awareness, and it adds up.
Jim Wright is a longtime Richmond community activist
