Communities and activists to rail against thermal-coal export facility in court
Posted May 16, 2017 10:32 pm.
Last Updated May 16, 2017 10:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A case that’s been brewing for over two years will finally be heard by a judge, as people opposed to a thermal-coal export facility plan to fight the Fraser Surrey Docks project in court tomorrow.
“Everybody’s been worried about it for years, and since we filed the initial court case back in September 2014 we’ve only seen mounting community concern in relation to the project,” says Karen Campbell, lawyer with Ecojustice Canada.
Lawyers joining Campbell argue the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority did not have the legal power to approve the Fraser Surrey Docks coal project, and claim the port was biased when it awarded the permit.
Apart from the legal concerns, Campbell says there are also health, community and climate-related impacts associated with coal import and export.
“This is a project that would see thermal-coal being brought in from the United States, shipped through the communities of Surrey, White Rock and Delta to a port on the Fraser River.”
She adds the coal would then be transferred onto barges, then sent to various destinations in Asia. She argues the reason coal is being shipped through Canada is because of growing concerns along the Pacific Northwest. Campbell claims similar export facility proposals in Oregon, Washington and North California were all rejected.
According to Campbell, this is the first time Ecojustice will be joined by interveners who are municipalities.
“When the court case happens tomorrow, we will be seeing submissions being made by the City of Surrey and the City of New Westminster, who are either within the area of the coal terminal, or across the river from the coal terminal,” she says. “These municipal governments also have concerns about the health and community-impacts of this project.”
Thermal coal has been the source of debate for the past few months, especially after Premier Christy Clark requested the federal government implement a ban or heavy tax on thermal coal from the United States.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a local coal-export facility here in BC urged him to strike down a ban, arguing that the industry has significant positive impacts on the economy by generating hundreds of million dollars a year, and contributing to tens of millions of dollars in taxes annually.
