Editor:
Re: Port proposal is beyond province's jurisdiction, letter to the editor, June 20
The environment minister's response to my call that she contacts her federal counterpart and request an environmental assessment of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway expansion continues to be disingenuous.
The environment minister says that there is "no mechanism in place for the province" to make such a request. That is simply not so.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (2012), Section 14 (2) states that the federal minister can designate an environmental assessment by order, if "public concerns related to those effects... warrant the designation." As the minister will know, these public concerns may be relayed to the federal government by any public body, including the Province of B.C. The Corporation of Delta has already submitted its concerns to the federal minister. The province has not.
The proposed rail expansion will be in a sensitive corridor that is below a large residential area and which contains a fish-bearing stream, a public park, a walking trail and the Burns Bog Conservancy.
I ask, with respect: What else does the minister need to advocate for an assessment of the Burlington Northern Sante Fe expansion?
Vicki Huntington
Delta South MLA
