An environmental assessment of a controversial coal terminal will review existing data compiled by the corporation hoping to build the project.
Alan Fryer, spokesperson for the Coal Alliance, said the review of the Surrey Fraser Docks Direct Coal Transfer Facility project is “a positive step” to address health concerns raised by critics.
The review of health and environmental impacts posed by the $15 million expansion was ordered by Port Metro Vancouver, the authority which has to approve the project.
The assessment, to be conducted by SNC Lavalin, is expected to be completed by the end of September. It’s been criticized by environmentalists as being inadequate.
But Fryer says “the data is all there” for SNC Lavalin to assess.
“Port Metro has asked for an independent assessment of the work that’s been done to date and that’s a positive step,” said Fryer.
“Surrey Fraser Docks has already done a lot of work and study and assessment on the impacts. Port Metro has asked a third party to look at it and their data, … which is all there.”
The Surrey Fraser Docks proposal would see a coal transfer station built on the Surrey-Delta border that would handle between four million and eight million metric tonnes of coal per year.
The coal will be mined in the Powder River Basin, straddling the Montana-Wyoming border and shipped by rail cars to barges at the proposed facility. It would ultimately be sent to markets in China.
Critics of the project have raised concerns about the potential health hazards of coal dust on communities along the line and across from the terminal, among other issues.
Fryer said those concerns are being addressed. He said environmentalists go beyond the issue of local impacts, however.
“Their (environmentalists) position is we shouldn’t be mining coal at all, which is an extreme position.”
Fryer said four out of 10 people on the planet rely on coal for electrical power and currently, alternatives are not in place.
“What happens to them if we stop mining coal tomorrow?” he said.
The Coal Alliance was formed earlier this year and includes mining companies, railways, industry associations and others who support the mining and shipping of coal in B.C.
SNC Lavalin refused to comment on the assessment, referring all media inquiries to Surrey Fraser Docks.
Surrey Fraser Docks could not be reached for comment at presstime.
