The City of New Westminster has more municipal company in its opposition to a proposed coal facility at Fraser Surrey Docks.
A day after hundreds of opponents to the project rallied on New Westminster’s waterfront, Surrey city council voted to oppose the proposed coal terminal until an independent, third-party health assessment and full public hearings are complete. The decision came after the Communities and Coal group presented Surrey council with a petition signed by more than 10,000 people.
The Metro Vancouver board of directors has opposed the project, and White Rock, Langley and Vancouver have voiced concerns about the process and the proposal.
New Westminster city council has opposed the proposed coal transfer facility and expressed concerns about the inability in getting information about the project. Quayside and Queensborough residents' associations provided city council with petitions signed by more than a thousand people.
Fraser Surrey Docks has applied to Port Metro Vancouver for a permit to construct a direct transfer coal facility on the site that’s across the river from Westminster Quay and Queensborough.
In response to Sunday’s rally in New Westminster, Port Metro Vancouver issued a statement noting that it had requested additional measures from Fraser Surrey Docks. The measures, which were requested in September, include: working with the rail provider to address the issue for potential dust migration from rail cars; revising its proposal so temporarily stockpiling on the surrey site isn’t required; ensuring that coal dust doesn’t migrate from barges at the terminal and along its route to its destination; and requiring Fraser Surrey Docks to undertake an environmental impact assessment about the project.
“We are confident that this type of independent and transparent study will ensure a greater level of transparency and move the debate from purely speculative to very objective. Once the completed environmental impact assessment is received, it will be made available for public comment,” said a statement provided by Port Metro Vancouver when contacted by The Record. Accorging to the press release, Port Metro Vancouver does not set “arbitrary timelines” so a project permit will not be issued by the port until all technical reviews and any required municipal, First Nations and community consultations are complete.
Fraser Surrey Docks has applied to Port Metro Vancouver for a permit to operate a coal transfer facility, where coal arriving on trains from the United States would be loaded on to barges and shipped to Texada Island and then to China. It’s proposed that the facility would handle between four million and eight million metric tonnes of coal annually.
