The British Columbia government has attached 16 conditions to an environmental assessment certificate issued to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority for the proposed Roberts Bank Terminal 2 in Delta, which follows federal approval with 307 binding conditions last April. A statement indicated the provincial government “could not prohibit the project from going forward.”
The estimated $3.5 billion RBT2 project consists of an artificial peninsula that would be adjacent to the present Deltaport and would provide 2.4 million TEUs of additional container capacity at a three-berth terminal for handling anticipated growth in Asian trade.
The decision to issue a provincial certificate was made by George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Rob Fleming, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure after carefully considering the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office’s (EAO) report on the environmental assessment.
The B.C. certificate has 16 legally enforceable conditions that the port authority must follow to avoid, minimize or offset the project’s potential adverse effects over its lifespan, including:
- A wetlands management plan to reduce negative impacts on wetlands and wetland functions;
- A land vegetation and wildlife management plan to reduce negative impacts on land-based plants and animals;
- A community feedback process for addressing questions and concerns from people in the region;
- Environmental-management plans for both construction and operations to reduce noise and vibration and plan for emergency response and spill prevention; and,
- A greenhouse-gas reduction plan for emissions, including net-zero by 2050.
This past spring, five environmental groups launched a legal challenge against the project on the grounds it would disrupt “critical habitat” for endangered southern resident killer whales in adjacent waters.
(VFPA image of proposed RBT2)
