Delta wants the provincial government to know the municipality does not have the ability to deal with spills or fires that could result from the proposed project to bring jet fuel up the Fraser River.
On Monday night, civic politicians approved a motion to formally notify the province and the Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corporation of that reality.
Owned by a consortium of airlines that use Vancouver International Airport, the corporation is proposing to ship jet fuel to a tank farm that would be built on the Richmond side of the south arm of the Fraser River. An underground pipeline would then send the fuel to YVR.
"The responsibility for emergency spill response and mitigation of impacts lies entirely with the proponent and shipping companies who are required to have a contract with a marine spill response organization... Delta does not have the capacity or responsibility for dealing with spills of aviation fuels in the Fraser River," states a report from Sean McGill, Delta's director of human resources and corporate planning.
The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office accepted a formal application for an environmental assessment of the project two years ago.
A decision from the provincial and federal environment ministers on the assessment is expected by Feb. 25. The project could be approved, rejected or sent back to the EAO for more information.
