Action in Time

Evidence-based science warns of unmitigable, irreversible harm to the Fraser River Estuary from the proposed Roberts Bank Container Terminal Project

Roberts Bank Terminal 2 February 2, 2022 , by admin

A letter from Susan Jones of the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee to Prime Minister Trudeau, Premier Horgan, Minister of Enviroment George Heyman, and 24 other government and tribal officials and organizations. You can read it here (PDF).

Excerpts: “The Port of Vancouver has had eight years to present credible, substantive scientific information and mitigation measures and these have not materialized. It is disconcerting that the Port is being permitted to present yet another set of information and mitigation measures when submissions have clearly proven that the residual significant adverse environmental effects of RBT2 cannot be mitigated.

“Submissions from experts on the Roberts Bank Container Terminal Project (RBT2) confirm that dredging and filling 186 hectares (460 acres) of the estuary for a widened causeway and man-made island the size of 250 football fields will alter the Fraser River estuarine processes. Subsequent changes in water flows, temperature, salinity, and turbidity will lead to the loss of nutrients and primary food sources. There will be a domino effect on the highly complex food web at Roberts Bank that links fish, shellfish, birds, and marine animals to the interactive, interdependent habitats of the river; the estuary; the adjacent agricultural lands; the Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area; the Strait of Georgia; the Salish Sea; and the Pacific Ocean.”

Earlier version of the same letter here.