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VAPOR vents in Delta

A Richmond-based protest group has taken its message over the Fraser River and into Delta in a bid to broaden its support.

A Richmond-based protest group has taken its message over the Fraser River and into Delta in a bid to broaden its support.

Vancouver Airport Pipeline Opposition for Richmond (VAPOR), a coalition of residents, made a presentation to Delta council Monday.

VAPOR says barging toxic and flammable jet fuel up the Fraser River estuary to serve Vancouver International Airport is unprecedented, unreasonable and far too dangerous.

"It's the wrong project, wrong place, wrong proposal. We're proposing a better alternative," Delta resident Jim Ronback told council.

Owned by a consortium of airlines that use YVR, the Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corporation wants jet fuel barged up the Fraser River to a proposed tank farm on the Richmond side of the south arm of the river. An underground pipeline would then send the fuel to the airport.

Made up mostly of Richmond residents but also some from Delta, VAPOR says it's not opposed to the airport having a stable supply of fuel, however, environmental and public safety have to be taken into account.

"In this case, it is especially important because the fragile Fraser River, its estuary and surrounding marine waters in the Gulf of Georgia (Salish Sea) is needlessly being exposed to a new and totally unacceptable environmental and public safety risk," stated spokesperson Otto Langer, a former senior biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in a letter to council.

The group is worried about a myriad of issues, including potential spills, contamination, fires and explosions.

Richmond council has come out in opposition to the fuel consortium proposal, while Delta has taken a more guarded approach.

Currently, jet fuel is pumped to YVR from Burnaby through a 40-year-old pipeline, in addition to about 1,000 tanker truck trips a month between Washington state and the airport.

Full story at www.richmond-news.com.