FortisBC is welcoming the approval from the provincial government for its Tilbury Marine Jetty (TMJ) project.
On Wednesday, the province granted approval for an Environmental Assessment Certificate for the project. FortisBC is now awaiting a decision from the federal government.
The TMJ project consists of building a jetty, or dock, on the south arm of the Fraser River adjacent to FortisBC’s existing Tilbury LNG facility. Once constructed, the TMJ will be the first facility on Canada’s west coast that will enable trans-oceanic vessels to fuel with liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Port of Vancouver.
In 2022, FortisBC signed an agreement with the Musqueam Indian Band that includes options for Musqueam to acquire equity ownership in the projects at Tilbury, subject to regulatory approvals and certain conditions precedent.
“We welcome the decision from the provincial government and are optimistic that federal approval will follow soon,” said Roger Dall’Antonia, president and CEO of FortisBC. “Tilbury LNG is all around win-win from decarbonizing the marine sector, to improving air quality and sharing economic benefits with local and Indigenous businesses. We look forward to the day we can call our region the ‘port of call’ for low carbon marine fuelling on the West Coast.”
Musqueam Indian Band Chief Wayne Sparrow said with the approval, the province has made a a step towards enabling lower carbon marine fuels visiting the Port of Vancouver and opening our energy market.
“Musqueam has stewarded our homelands around the Fraser River estuary for thousands of years and look forward to further building our partnerships with FortisBC once this project is fully approved,” said Sparrow.
Duncan Wilson, vice-president, environmental and external affairs with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said approval of TMJ supports the shipping industry’s transition to cleaner and lower carbon fuels and provide ships calling at the Port of Vancouver the opportunity to significantly reduce their air pollutants.
