The Council of Canadians Delta/Richmond chapter is opposing a plan to construct a marine terminal and jet fuel tank farm on the banks of the Fraser River.
The Delta Optimist reports, “Owned by a consortium of airlines that use YVR, the Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corporation wants to ship jet fuel [in barges and Panamax-class tanker ships the length of three football fields] up the river to a [six-story high] tank farm [capable of storing 80 million litres of flammable jet fuel] that would be built on an industrial site on the Richmond side on the south arm of the Fraser. A [15-kilometre] underground pipeline would then send the fuel to the airport.”
In their letter to the provincial government, the chapter states, “We feel your approval has not been based on the best science and to some large degree has ignored the large amount of public opposition to the project as well as the unanimous opposition of Richmond and Delta City Councils. …The Council of Canadians supports the public right to challenge such poorly made decisions in our court system. We urge your government to review how you conduct environmental assessments and revise your legislation and procedures to ensure that the public is given better options of being heard.”
Four different polls indicate that 85 per cent of area residents oppose jet fuel being stored by the Fraser River.
A group called the Vancouver Airport Project Opposition for Richmond (VAPOR) will be at the B.C. Supreme Court on February 10-12, 2015 to argue that there was inadequate public consultation before the project was granted an environmental certificate by the province in December 2013.
Construction on the $100 million project has not yet begun.
