Fraser Surrey Docks' controversial coal export expansion will require a series of new and more rigorous environmental requirements before Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) will review the project, port officials announced September 12.
If approved, the $15 million proposed expansion would make the Fraser Surrey Docks a transfer site for a maximum of four million tonnes of thermal coal, brought by rail to the facility from United States.
Once in Surrey, the coal will be transferred onto barges and shipped along the Fraser River to Texada Island, where it will await shipment to Asia.
But the project, which has been subject to a review by PMV since 2012, must now undergo a thorough environmental impact assessment (EIA) that will include "the human and ecological effects of the project."
Jeff Scott, president and CEO of Fraser Surrey Docks, expects the EIA to be submitted to PMV by the end of September. Fraser Surrey Docks has hired SNC Lavalin to compile the study. The EIA will be made available to the public once PMV receives it.
The scope of the assessment will include the shipping activity from the border, the transfer at the docks and all barging along the Fraser River. It will not include any barging activity past the mouth of the Fraser.
In addition to the assessment, the coal project must also eliminate a planned temporary stockpile of coal from its site and establish new measures to keep the coal from being spilled from trains and barges while in transit.
Scott confirmed the stockpile will be eliminated and binding agents will be added to the coal at Fraser Surrey Docks to ensure it stays on the barges.
BNSF Railway, the company in change of shipping the coal to the Surrey dock from the U.S., has committed to double-spraying the coal with a dust-retardant agent on its rail cars, added Scott.
All coal is initially sprayed at the mine site before being put on rail cars. By committing to double-spraying the coal, BNSF will add a new spraying facility before the rail cars cross the border.
Environmental groups, city councils and residents across the Lower Mainland have blasted the project, citing concerns of both the coal blowing off barges during shipping and the emissions produced from burning thermal coal.
But Scott stressed the project has been safe since it was proposed. These added safety measures are only improvement.
"We have carefully listened to the community's concerns and we believe these measures to be an enhancement of an already safe and reliable process," said Scott.
Kevin Washbrook, director of the citizen-led environmental group Voters Taking Action Against Climate Change, said Scott's assertions that this environmental process represents an enhancement to project safety is laughable. No thorough environmental assessment can be done and submitted by the end of September, he said.
"In two weeks, maybe, you can decide what the scope of the assessment will be," said Washbrook.
"A two-week study is window dressing in my opinion."
Washbrook also challenged the scope of the assessment, stressing that shipping activity all the way to Texada Island, as well as the transfer process on the island should be included.
"Folks on Texada – they deserve the same data we are going to get," he said.
"It's the same coal."
No timeline has yet been established by PMV for its review of the environmental assessment. The public will have the opportunity to comment on the report once its made public.
If approved, the transfer facility will add 50 cumulative jobs at the dock and the rail and barge companies. Since 2008, the workforce at Fraser Surrey Docks has dropped from 530 to 230.
