Editor:
A farce is being played out by the Port of Vancouver and the Canadian Government.
The Port, a government agency, is being allowed to continue with unproven mitigation and compensation measures in anticipation of federal and provincial approval of the Roberts Bank Container Terminal 2 Project (RBT2) in the Fraser River estuary.
Although the federal/provincial Review Panel environmental assessment was completed a year ago, the federal government is permitting the Port of Vancouver to proceed with paying scientists and students to provide additional reports with unproven assumptions and so-called scientific information that is not appropriately confirmed, published, or peer reviewed.
The governments of Canada and B.C. are working with the Port of Vancouver on mitigation/compensation plans in an attempt to override and ignore scientific evidence provided by government and independent scientists during the seven-year environmental assessment. Evidence from experts and the Review Panel Report warns that RBT2 will irreversibly destroy whale, salmon and migratory bird habitat.
Furthermore, the experts have advised that the significant, residual, adverse effects cannot be mitigated. Dredging and filling the estuary for a massive man-made island the size of 250 football fields will alter the salinity regime, irreparably impacting the entire estuarine ecosystem.
The governments of Canada and B.C. are proving they just don’t care about the estuary, or legitimate evidence-based science.
Susan Jones
