The Editor:
Re: "Coal dust not a concern," Letters, April 5.
While Jeff Scott, the president and CEO of Fraser Surrey Docks tries to allay our concerns about coal dust, there are many other issues and questions that need answering with respect to barging coal up the Fraser River.
1. Why should another coal loading facility be developed when Roberts Bank coal terminal already exists? Certainly many aspects of this terminal and its expansion are already environmentally questionable, but the infrastructure already exists there.
2. What are the real limits for this proposal or aren't there any? The proposal indicates that six years later, four times as many barges will be moving down the river. Are we going to see that incrementally double in the following years?
3. What is the carrying capacity of the river? Already there is significant transport of materials along the river and a number of proposals such as this one and jet fuel barging. Now wakes created by large vessels erode banks and can damage shore-line marshes. Increasing numbers and size of vessels will exacerbate this problem. The risk of spills and collisions increases. Coal dust is but one of a number of environmental concerns about this proposal.
4. If the coal is heading north to Texada Island and then to Asian markets, does that mean it will be shipped out through Johnston Strait? This is a very busy shipping area and also an important orca habitat and salmon migration route. Reducing marine pollution and traffic disturbance should be of paramount importance to protect the orca, salmon and other wildlife in the area.
5. The now defunct Fraser River Estuary Management program described the Fraser as a "living/working river" in its planning documents. If proposals like this coal barging and the jet fuel barging go ahead the river is in danger of being worked to death.
Evelyn Feller Richmond
