Conservationists are sounding the alarm about the approval of a massive expansion for the Port of Vancouver in Delta.
On Thursday, the federal government approved the $2 billion Roberts Bank terminal expansion, which will allow the facility to handle an additional 2.4 million containers annually.
The approval comes with 370 legally-binding conditions, designed to minimize the project’s environmental impact, but conservationists say it will have major impacts on biodiversity.
“I’m truly devastated. I think it is devastating news for anybody that cares about the Salish Sea and wants to protect it, and it is devastating for all of us that want to protect the southern resident orcas and want to prevent their extinction,” Georgia Strait Alliance biodiversity lead Lucero Gonzalez told Global News.
“We know that this project will cause significant and lasting adverse effects to the endangered southern resident orcas and their main prey, wild Pacific salmon. And not only them, but the 102 already at risk species that depend on the Fraser River estuary to survive.”
The Port of Vancouver is already a major economic driver for the region and Canada as a whole, contributing about $12 billion to the nation’s GDP.
Roberts Bank 2, as it’s known, will amount to a massive expansion of the terminal, including berths for three more ships and the infill of 122 hectares of new land.
With projections showing that the region’s west coast ports will be at capacity by the 2030s, the government says the case for the expansion is clear.
“This is a project that will provide significant economic benefits to B.C. and Canada. It will increase the Port of Vancouver’s container handling capacity by up to 60 per cent,” federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said.
Economic groups have also thrown their weight behind the project. Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman said the expansion strikes the right balance between the environment and the economy.
“It’s going to be good for the economy, the creation of jobs, and really ensuring we have sustainable supply chain systems that will benefit not only our local economy but also our national economy,” she told Global News.
Groups like the Georgia Strait Alliance, however, say the expansion will bring a massive increase in ship traffic — and with it, an increase in underwater noise that threatens the already beleaguered southern resident orca population — thought to be down to just 73 remaining killer whales.
“By approving this project, the federal government decided the increased risk of wild Pacific salmon and the southern resident orcas is somehow justifiable, and really what we need is that before any project gets approved on the Salish Sea, that we have a plan to comprehensively address the threats the region is facing,” Gonzales said.
“We do know that biodiversity loss in the region affects wild Pacific salmon as well as other at-risk species, and that Canada is living thru an unprecedented biodiversity crisis in the government’s own words.”
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Councillors in the City of Delta have unanimously opposed the expansion, citing environmental concerns, and have been joined by a dozen scientists who specialize in salmon, orcas and the Fraser River estuary.
Coastal First Nations on both sides of the border have also called for a halt on the expansion until a cumulative impact study can be completed.
In 2020, a federal review panel found the marine terminal expansion would have “adverse residual and cumulative effects” on the ecosystem. It made 71 recommendations to mitigate pollution and noise, and on marine mammals, migratory birds, local socio-economic conditions, quality of life impacts, and more.
According to the project’s website, the new terminal would be located in “deep, subtidal waters to minimize new environmental effects.”
Private investments and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will fund the expansion’s estimated $3.5 billion cost.
The port currently handles about $275 billion in goods annually — and the federal government says the facility supports more than 115,000 jobs across Canada, paying $7 billion in wages.
— with files from Elizabeth McSheffrey
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