Editor:
Re: FortisBC LNG expansion plans (Optimist, Aug. 3)
The Metro Vancouver board has made a grave error in refusing to vote on FortisBC plans for a massive 10-fold expansion of the Tilbury LNG operation on the Fraser River in Delta.
In violation of international safety standards, plans include an LNG terminal and LNG tankers on the narrow, winding lower Fraser River. This has the potential for a catastrophic accident, the size of Lac-Megantic.
The board has voted to defer a position until completion of federal/provincial environmental assessments. At that point, the board’s position will be meaningless as the decisions will have been made.
The LNG plant expansion and transport terminal are interdependent projects that legally should be assessed as a single project. Instead, the project has been split and the process has been seven years of incomprehensible layers of amendments. The process fails to sufficiently address cumulative effects; upstream and downstream effects; and the risk of extreme danger. There has been no meaningfully incorporation of public input.
FortisBC customers are already paying for current expansions; they, or all taxpayers, will have to pay the $3 to $4 billion for the Tilbury plans that should not be permitted at this location.
Susan Jones
