Just when it started ticking again, the clock has stopped once more for Port Metro Vancouver.
Last month, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency requested additional information from the port authority regarding its Terminal 2 proposal at Roberts Bank. The additional information on fish, species at risk and marine animals, as well as how invasive plant species will be effectively managed, is required before the application can proceed any further at the federal level.
It means the “regulatory clock” has stopped until the port submits the information and the agency believes a panel would have all the necessary information for a comprehensive review of the three-berth container terminal proposal. The federal environment minister won’t appoint a review panel until the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is satisfied.
There’s no timeline on when the additional information must or will be submitted.
The project is subject to an independent review panel, under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, but will also undergo an assessment under the B.C. Environmental Assessment Act. It also requires other permits and authorizations.
The port had estimated construction of the project would commence sometime in 2018 and would take approximately five years to complete.
Last spring, it submitted a comprehensive environmental document for T2, which was to trigger a lengthy review process.
The environmental impact statement summarizes the results of dozens of studies and the port notes its research involved the assessment of potential environmental, economic, social, heritage and health effects of the project, including cumulative effects.
Last summer, the agency asked the port authority for additional information before the review could proceed, effectively stopping the clock until it deemed the document complete. That information was submitted in late October, but the port has now seen the clock stop a second time.
As far as some of the local input already received, the Delta Farmers’ Institute last summer commented that if T2 was to proceed, agricultural lands would be under further pressure and as much as 600 hectares would be earmarked for port-related development. The DFI has asked for the environmental assessment to include impacts to agricultural lands.
Politicians, citizen groups and environmental organizations have also conveyed concerns or opposition.
Port Metro Vancouver has already shortlisted five companies in the process to select a terminal operator for T2.
