They arrived on the behest of city council with the hope of building a few bridges of trust, bearing in mind previous meetings had devolved into feisty verbal clashes.
But after being grilled once more by mayor and council on its role in the controversial aviation fuel pipeline plan, Port Metro Vancouver's delegation will have left Richmond City Hall Monday wary of how much faith said spans will hold.
The port (PMV) is the federal entity of the so-called "harmonized" environmental review process - a process which has been lambasted as being watered down by opponents of a plan to barge aviation fuel up the south arm of the Fraser River and then pipe it through Richmond to YVR.
PMV's president and CEO, Robin Silvester, and its vice-president of planning and operations, Peter Xotta, faced city council and spoke of being keen on "collaboration and dialogue."
Silvester explained to council the step-by-step process of how the plan - proponents of which is a consortium of airlines which use YVR - will be reviewed and by whom.
A B.C. environmental review, conducted by the BC Environmental Review Office (BCEAO), will be followed by a PMV-led federal environment assessment, before a PMV project permit will or will not be issued.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie accused PMV of having a conflict of interest in that it's conducting a review into a project that it would stand to gain from financially.
However, Silvester noted that should the permit be issued, "it will also be referred to the city for review. We will not make a final decision on the project until the process is complete."
Silvester reminded council that PMV has commissioned a Fraser River tanker study, adding that the results of the study will "inform PMV's federal environmental assessment and project review."
"The federal environmental review will not conclude until Environment Canada has had an opportunity to consider the project."
Coun. Bill McNulty accused PMV of dodging responsibility for the project. "Noone wants to take responsibility. Under what kind of conditions would the permit not be granted?" asked McNulty.
Silvester countered that PMV is very much "taking responsibility for the review process. The things that have to be considered are being taken care of by the studies."
Coun. Harold Steves, arguably the fiercest opponent of the plan on council, demanded to know why, with PMV being the federal entity in the process, no public hearing is being called.
"This is not a process that triggers that hearing," Silvester replied, insisting the BCEAO is running the process, not PMV .
Undeterred, Steves pointed the finger at the delegation, accusing them of being the "judge and jury with regard to the tankers."
After asking what the city had to do to get a public hearing, he was told by Silvester that he'd need to speak to the provincial and federal governments.
Coun. Ken Johnston reiterated the "potential for disaster" with regard to the proposal and asked PMV why it couldn't just say "no" when it came to issuing the permit.
"We would have to have a reason that was objective rather than subjective not to do it," Silvester replied. "It will either be 'this project can be done with a mitigated risk, or it can't.'"
Johnston added that the public perception of the review process is horrendous. "The whole thing looks like you're all in bed together."
Brodie noted that PMV could put a spanner in the works by simply refusing to lease the land where the project's fuel tank farms will be located on the banks of the south arm.
"Again, we would have to have a reason (for saying no to the tank farms). The VAFFC could challenge it and there are mechanics in place for them to do that," said Silvester.
"We would receive a small amount of money for that land to be used. We want this to be safe, should it go ahead."
A successful motion put forward by Brodie called for the city to write to the provincial and federal environment ministers and the local MLAs and MPs asking for a public hearing to be part of the environmental assessment process.
The delegation was also questioned about its policy to acquire land with a view to developing it for future port needs. "Land is needed to support jobs," argued Silvester. "We are working on our land use planning process and we'll be coming forward with a much more detailed document."
Silvester also told council that PMV has no immediate plans for the recently acquired Gilmore Farms, adding that it is contracted to be farmed for the foreseeable future.
