The British Columbia government has granted conditional environmental approval for a jet fuel pipeline that would take fuel from the south arm of the Fraser River to Vancouver International Airport.
Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corporation is proposing to bring fuel tanker ships up the Fraser River and build a 15 km pipeline through Richmond to the airport, located on Sea Island in Richmond.
The province made the decision after considering a review led by B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office. The approval includes 64 conditions, including two tug escorts for each tanker and double-hulled ships.
The announcement caught Richmond city councillor Harold Steves by surprise. Steves has steadfastly opposed the project on environmental grounds.
"It's the wrong place to put it," Steves said. "You simply do not put oil tankers and jet fuel tankers in a important estuary where the grasses and the reeds provide habitat."
Jet fuel currently reaches YVR via a Kinder Morgan pipeline running from Burnaby to Richmond. Steves said that barring a few busy weeks in the summer, the existing infrastructure can handle the airport's fuel needs.
However proponents of the project say the new pipeline is needed to meet demand.
"Not only is YVR's current fuel delivery system operating at full capacity, but the airport is forced to bring in an average of 1,000 tanker trucks of jet fuel each month from Washington State," said Elio Luongo, a managing partner of KPMG and member of the Vancouver Board of Trade, which supports the project.
Steves links the decision to approve the pipeline to Premier Christy Clark's October announcement that the George Massey Tunnel will be replaced with a 10-lane bridge. Removing the tunnel is necessary to allow large tankers to move farther up the Fraser River.
"This opens up the river not just to the shipment of jet fuel but to coal to Fraser Surrey Docks," Steves said, referring to a proposal to expand a coal terminal in Surrey.
"What we're looking at is the final changeover from Vancouver having a port in Burrard inlet to the port being in Richmond and Delta."
On December 6, Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie sent a letter to B.C.'s Minister of Environment Mary Polak, outlining his city's concerns with the pipeline proposal.
"Despite a lengthy Environmental Assessment process, the risks and potential economic costs to our community still have not been adequately addressed by the proponents or the Environmental Assessment process," Brodie wrote.
