Editor:
Re: Gov't 'hands-off' on T2: MLA, Oct. 30
Last Friday, B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak assured Optimist readers her ministry has been working closely with the federal assessment agency in its review of Port Metro Vancouver's Terminal 2 container project.
From the beginning, the province agreed to a parallel environmental assessment process, where the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) would rely primarily on the work of the federal assessment agency. The EAO, we were told, would dutifully step in where it saw gaps in information related to areas of provincial jurisdiction.
Yet this summer it failed to do just that, despite the minister's claims to the contrary.
The most recent round of the assessment process was to ensure the port's environmental impact statement was "complete." A long list of individuals, organizations, federal departments and my own office submitted comments to the federal agency requesting more information from the port.
The EAO also responded to this call for comments. It wrote a short note to the federal agency on June 15 saying it felt the port's documents were "complete," and it required no further information. That same day Health Canada submitted its own comments, finding multiple areas of provincial jurisdiction that required more information.
The federal assessment agency later ordered the port to address some of these gaps, after reviewing all submissions from participants. The most perplexing omission, in light of the EAO's silence, relates to air quality standards set by B.C.'s Ministry of Environment in 2014. How the EAO missed this gap is beyond me - they work in the same ministry.
The minister's claim the government's approach has not been "hands-off" rings hollow, when it's been left to other groups, like Health Canada, to speak up for our provincial interests.
Vicki Huntington, MLA Delta South
