Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) approved the proposed direct coal transfer facility at Fraser Surrey Docks (FSD) yesterday that will see coal barged along the South Arm of the Fraser River.
A PMV media release stated it will require the FSD to meet a specific set of conditions in order to ensure environmental and safety standards are met.
Jim Crandles, director of planning and development, was quoted in the press release as stating, “We are confident that the project does not pose a risk to the environment or human health and the public is protected.”
Local activist Erika Koenig-Workman said that the public needs to be a part of the process and that PMV’s “reviews and critiques are flawed.”
Koenig-Workman points to myriad of people, including doctors, biologists, local MLAs and naturalists, who have expressed outright opposition to the proposal.
Environmentalist Otto Langer, has long challenged PMV’s legislative powers, saying the entity acts as judge, jury and executioner when it comes to expansion proposals on the river and the federal policing of environmental concerns.
“There are no checks and balances in there,” he said in an earlier interview.
“If there was a properly run, independent environmental assessment procedure, then I think we would all be a little more tolerant and accepting of the system.
“For years, we did have some environmental accountability. But we’ve watered down the legislation over the years and now we have a situation where Port Metro can decide, environmentally, on proposals they stand to gain from financially; it’s a total conflict of interest.”
The fact the public has no part to play in the appointment of PMV’s board of directors, predominantly hand-picked by industry user groups, sucks even more life out of the credibility of the port’s role to conduct unbiased environmental reviews, said Langer.
