A push to quash Texada Quarrying Ltd’s coal port expansion has failed in court, but those against the project say the fight is far from over.
BC Supreme Court has ruled for the province in its decision to allow an increase in the amount of thermal coal storage on Texada Island where it could then be shipped internationally.
Voters Taking Action on Climate Change (VTACC) took the province to court arguing that ministry of energy and mines did not have jurisdiction when it approved the increase in March 2014.
The province approved an application to double the amount of coal that could be stored at Lafarge Canada Inc.’s Texada Quarrying Ltd (TQL) facility from four million to eight million metric tonnes annually.
The environmental group said that TQL, which operates the coal handling on the island, made the application in anticipation of Surrey Fraser Dock (SFD)’s August 2014 approval for four million tonnes of coal being shipped out per year. The coal arriving at SFD’s facility is US thermal coal transported by rail to the terminal. The proposal is to ship the coal in barges to Texada Island where it will be stored before it is transferred to cargo vessels for export to Asia.
“[VTACC] maintains that TQL’s facility forms part of an integrated plan to significantly increase thermal coal exports from British Columbia, which in turn will cause a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions when coal is burned,” Justice Miriam Gropper wrote in her decision, Thursday, March 26.
VTACC’s lawyer argued that the energy and mines ministry could not approve the expansion under the Mines Act because the operation is a coal shipping and handling facility, not a mine. And in addition, that the ministry of environment failed to exercise its powers under the Environmental Management Act which should have required TQL to apply for a waste management permit for its operations.
Gropper, however, found the province’s decision to approve the coal storage increases at the Texada facility reasonable.
Lawyers for the government said that VTACC’s interpretation of the Mines Act would have led to the “absurd result” that the Texada storage facility could operate without “any regulatory oversight” from the energy ministry if government did not have jurisdiction.
CaroleAnn Leishman, Pebble in the Pond Environmental Society director, said there “are still many hoops for Surrey Fraser Docks to jump through to have the project green-lighted from their end before it would start up.”
For one, public commenting has been requested on the company’s liquid waste discharge permit application to Metro Vancouver. Surrey Fraser Docks wants to “dump their coal-laden sludge water into the Metro Vancouver sewer system,” Leishman said. Public comments will be received until Thursday, April 9, and can be submitted online.
Leishman said she thought VTACC was considering an appeal to the recent decision against the group. She added that the group will continue to raise awareness and public pressure on both the provincial and federal governments that comprehensive environmental and health impact assessments have not been completed on the project.
In related news, Brooks Secondary School students organized a rally, Defend our Future, in front of MLA Nicholas Simons’ Powell River constituency office (4675 Marine Avenue) as part of a provincial day of action on climate change for high school students, Tuesday, March 7. Simons, the students said, agreed to meet with them to discuss their concerns on the issue of growing coal exports in BC.
“A fossil fuel economy will only leave my generation behind…, and we deserve better than a destroyed ecosystem and global climate change,” said Brooks student Gabe Dalpiaz. Even if they are not old enough to vote, he said, “young people have a civic duty to engage in the community and protect their environment, as well as a right to speak up for their future.”
Readers interested in learning more about VTACC can visit the group’s website. The ruling can be read online.
