A decision on the proposed coal terminal expansion at Fraser Surrey Docks could be coming in the near future, according to Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) CEO Robin Silvester.
Silvester said that, following the release of the project's health impact assessment November 18, PMV was in the final stages of its decision-making process.
"We make our decision and announce it when we have time to properly consider all of the input; we are nearing the end of this process so we would expect to be in the position to make a decision reasonably soon," he said. "We don't have a fixed timeline to make that decision, but we are committed to reviewing all of the information."
Barring any drastic oversights, Silvester said that the remaining steps would be to collect and consider the feedback on the recently released report as well as review information from an independent review of the report, which has also been commissioned by PMV.
To date, reaction to PMV's report has been mostly negative, with municipalities like the City of Surrey and community groups criticizing it for not considering the potential impacts on the communities surrounding the rail route that would be used to transport the coal to the proposed terminal. In response to the criticism, Silvester said those concerns should be alleviated by a detailed and thorough review of the report.
"There's been a lot of comment about it, there's been a lot of interest and that's fine. The point of having a consultation process is so people have a chance to get to understand the project and the possible implications," he said. "But it's a long, complicated report with a lot of scientific information and I don't think what people fully understand yet – from our read of the report – is that it's saying the dust is going to be contained by the mitigation methods proposed."
In particular, much has been made of a letter penned by the chief medical officers of both Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health saying that the report was lacking in terms of scope, something Silvester said might need another look.
"Obviously, we respect and value the input from the regional medical officers and what we need to do is consider all of the input we receive from both regional medical officers and both experts in the field and we have to make a decision on the issues being addressed and properly mitigated," he said. "We respect their input and appreciate it but we would actually also respectfully question some of the scope on what they're commenting on and if they have fully reviewed and considered the report and the expert opinions contained in it."
Referring to the expert cited in the report, Dr. Leonard Ritter of the University of Guelph, Silvester said he was satisfied with Ritter's findings.
"He really would be legitimately called a national and international expert and he specializes in environmental toxicology and the opening quote of his expert opinion letter is, 'In my expert opinion, the proposed FSD coal operations do not pose a risk of adverse health effects in neighbouring communities.' So that's a pretty unequivocal statement from an expert in the field."
As for earlier reportsthat White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin had not received the report on the day of its release, Silvester said it appeared to be a communications mix up at city hall as the report had been sent to all affected municipalities the day of its release.
"I spoke with him and he was saying there had been some sort of confusion at city hall," said Silvester, who noted the report was emailed and couriered the morning of its release. "We absolutely understand the importance of communicating with him and we are totally committed to it and we always want to communicate these things totally and thoroughly."
When asked if there was any intent to conduct any other reviews of the proposed project, Silvester said there doesn't appear to be any intent to undertake a comprehensive health-impact assessment at the moment, but that could still change.
"We would need to see something we haven't seen so far to say to us that there is a need for more assessment of this project, but the assessment done so far has been very comprehensive and it does seem to have answered all the questions that have been raised," he said.
"There are people who say those questions haven't been answered, but I would strongly encourage them to read the full report."
Finally, with regard to concerns expressed by some project opponents that with the 30-day feedback period ending in mid-December the announcement might be timed to come down during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, Silvester said that whenever the decision is announced every effort will be taken to get the information out.
"We take our responsibilities very seriously and we will make sure our decision is fully and properly communicated and there will be plenty of opportunity for everybody interested in receiving that information and understanding it," he said.
"We are very thoughtful and careful about the way we communicate and will make sure the information is widely available."
Port Metro Vancouver will be accepting feedback on the environmental impact assessment until Dec. 17.
