Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corp. (VAFFC), the proponent of a controversial jet fuel pipeline through Richmond, has been granted a temporary suspension of the review of the project’s application for an environmental assessment certificate.
According to VAFFC, the request for suspension was made to allow VAFFC to complete some studies in response to requests from Environment Canada for further information related to the potential effects of an aviation fuel spill.
“While the studies are relatively straightforward, they are expected to take several months to complete,” the VAFFC states on its website.
Project opponent VAPOR, self-described as “a Lower Fraser Valley grass roots community group formed to oppose any jet fuel tanker transport on the Fraser River,” has issued a statement decrying the delay.
“This latest suspension of the process could now make this 180-day review process into a multi-year review process as they attempt to patch up shortcomings in their proposal to make it appear more palatable to the public,” the group said in a statement.
Last June, Business in Vancouver looked at the controversy that has been brewing around the project. (See “Not in our backyard” – issue 1130; June 21-27, 2011.)
In January, the VAFFC proposed an alternate route for the jet fuel pipeline.
