A cloud of white dust billowed above the Fraser Surrey Docks site as hundreds of people gathered at Westminster Quay to protest a proposed coal transfer facility at the site.
New Westminster Environmental Partners was one of several groups that organized Sunday’s rally, which was attended by more than 400 people.
“Fraser Surrey Docks, with almost no wind, was loading a ship and there was a large cloud of white dust. It was a covered conveyor belt just like they are going to use – there was a cloud of white, I think it was grain dust, that was falling all over the Fraser,” said Andrew Murray, coal spokesperson for New Westminster Environmental Partners. “It was so apropos. It was like ‘This is our contribution to your rally, thank you very much.’”
Fraser Surrey Docks has applied to Port Metro Vancouver for a permit to operate a coal transfer facility, where coal arriving on trains from the United States would be loaded on to barges and shipped to Texada Island and then to China. It’s proposed that the facility would handle between four million and eight million metric tonnes of coal annually.
Murray said one of the main messages of the Oct. 27 rally was to “say no to U.S. thermal coal” that Americans are rejecting for the health and environmental implications.
“The overriding issue is how undemocratic this process has been. Port Metro Vancouver has been given power by Ottawa that trumps the powers of democratically elected local governments,” he added. “That is the heart of the problem.”
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy attended the rally on behalf of city council, which has opposed the coal transfer facility. He was pleased that it was attended by a cross-section of people opposed to the project, including neighbours, doctors, elected officials and First Nations.
“This is an unelected body making this decision. I think the only thing that can make a difference is people getting active,” he said. “I think there has to be more before the port will listen – more opposition, more demonstrations, more letters.”
In February, officials from Port Metro Vancouver appeared before city council to discuss the project and assure the city that “fugitive” coal dust would be addressed as part of Fraser Surrey Docks’ plan.
McEvoy said it was timely that a ship was unloading a product at the Fraser Surrey Docks site during the rally.
“You could see the dust. It was all around,” he said. “Anyone who thinks there will be no coal dust in the air, they are dreaming.”
In September, Port Metro Vancouver requested additional mitigation measures as part of the permit process for the coal transfer facility, including additional dust control measures throughout the supply chain. Fraser Surrey Docks also commissioned SNC-Lavalin to conduct an environmental assessment of the project.
“The medical health officer for Fraser Health, the position he took is he doesn’t have the information to draw a conclusion. He needs more information from the proponents,” Murray said. “I wanted the medical health officer to take a look at this and he did, and he’s not able to draw a conclusion. The experts and professionals are not looking at this and giving it a green light.”
Murray disagrees with people who say coal dust is not a problem, even if they’re not working in mines.
“I come from a Scottish coal-mining family, on my father’s side. I watched my uncle die of emphysema, a slow horrible death,” he said. “I think exposure to coal dust is a carcinogen and causes respiratory illnesses.”
Murray said officials can’t make decisions as though they are not part of the global family that is trying to deal with this “humongous problem” of climate change. “That’s what we are doing when we are exporting thermal coal,” he said. “And China is cutting back – that market is becoming smaller. I have read they will stop exporting coal by 2015, which raises another question, ‘What is the end game here? Is this just about thermal coal? Could it be oil by rail?’”
Murray remains optimistic that there’s an opportunity to stop the coal transfer facility from being built at Fraser Surrey Docks, noting opposition is gaining momentum every week.
A spokesperson for Port Metro Vancouver couldn’t be reached for comment by The Record’s deadline.
