Confab of municipalities passes resolution in favour of greater oversight.
The province’s 190 local governments and 26 districts are calling for more government oversight over thermal coal exports in British Columbia, which are set to increase after a recent federal decision.
Delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ annual meeting in Whistler voted in favour of an assessment of the health and environmental risks of coal carried by train from the U.S. through White Rock and Surrey, and by barge to B.C.’s Texada Island — a corridor beyond the scope of Port Metro Vancouver’s own required reviews.
The UBCM resolution states that “there is currently no mechanism that provides oversight or ensures the implementation of mitigation measures to minimize environmental and health impacts of thermal coal transport over coastal waters and by rail.”
It calls for “a comprehensive environmental and health impact assessment for the shipment of thermal coal over coastal waters and by rail,” and that a provincial or federal agency be chosen to monitor it.
Though non-binding on the provincial or federal governments, the vote came five weeks after a federal port authority approved Fraser Surrey Docks’ application to build a transfer facility for four million tonnes of thermal coal a year. The facility could eventually handle up to eight million tonnes annually of U.S.-mined coal used for burning in Asian power plants.
Another nearby facility, Neptune Terminals on the North Shore, was previously approved to increase its coal handling to 18 million tonnes, but only for the type of metallurgical coal mined in B.C. used for steel production, and considered cleaner by many.
‘It goes right past our shoreline’
“The concern is about this particular type of dirty coal,” said Sunshine Coast Regional District director Donna Shugar, who proposed the resolution. “Not that any coal is clean, but [thermal coal] has way more toxins and it gives off a dust that is difficult to control.”
Despite an Aug. 21 approval by Port Metro Vancouver — the federally appointed body in charge of federal port lands — Shugar said that Fraser Surrey Docks was only required to assess the health and environmental impacts of its immediate surroundings, but not barge transport to Texada or railway lines from the U.S. border.
“They’re approving something that goes way beyond their location. It goes right past our shoreline and through some pretty challenging waters,” she said. “We’ve been left out of the process; so has the Sechelt First Nation.”
The resolution passed almost unanimously, said New Westminster councillor Chuck Puchmayr, who is also in Whistler. “Very few people actually voted in opposition to it. It got support throughout the province, bipartisan support from the members of the UBCM.”
Two speakers rose with concerns about the proposal. One was worried that a focus on barge transport through the Gulf Islands ignored the risks of transporting coal by rail, particularly around dust and locomotives’ diesel exhaust. Rail was added to the motion.
Another speaker argued the resolution’s wording needed to specify that only thermal coal be criticized, not B.C. metallurgical coal, and the motion was amended again.
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