mr.x
June 18th, 2007, 12:02 AM
Massive Deltaport expansion awash in questions
Busy, polluting cargo site may not be needed: Critics
Brian Lewis, The Province
Published: Sunday, June 17, 2007
The Vancouver Port Authority has taken its first concrete step toward building what will certainly be a controversial mega-project in Delta.
But the impacts of adding a three-berth second terminal (Terminal 2) to Deltaport will reach well beyond Delta, say critics.
In fact, last week's announcement by the port that it has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest to qualified companies to partner the VPA in planning, building and operating Terminal 2 quickly put a local volunteer citizens' group, Against Port Expansion, on red alert.
"They're in for a big fight, because our group is much better organized now," says spokesman Roger Emsley.
The group opposes Terminal 2 for many of the same reasons it tried, unsuccessfully, to block adding a third berth to the existing terminal.
It's concerned about the negative impacts from more trucks, trains, bunker oil-burning ships and the accompanying increases in air pollution. In fact, Terminal 2 is expected to triple the number of containers passing through Deltaport.
When the Third Berth project is completed in 2011, container truck traffic through Delta is expected to increase to 2,400 per day. Add Terminal 2 and this number triples, the group says.
It also suggests that expansion means Deltaport will quickly exceed the Greater Vancouver Regional District's standards for particulate matter.
Subsequently, prevailing westerly winds will carry these emissions up the Fraser Valley and raise air-quality concerns there -- much like the proposed Sumas 2 power plant did last year.
The port says both the Third Berth project and the much larger Terminal 2 initiative are needed to take advantage of Canada's growing trade with Asia. It also promises full community consultation in the planning process.
But opponents say it's more likely that the port, with the blessing of Ottawa and Victoria, is building a white elephant much like Quebec's catastrophic Mirabel Airport.
They claim that with new container port capacity now being built in Prince Rupert, expansion of container ports in California and a new container port proposed for Oregon, the west coast is quickly approaching over-capacity.
More importantly, a widening of the Panama Canal is expected to be finished by 2014, which means that Asian exporters will then be able to transport containers to eastern North America exclusively by ship -- which is much cheaper than shipping overland by rail or truck.
Note that 53 per cent of all containers shipped through Vancouver ports are bound for the east.
If this is the case -- and the VPA didn't return phone calls late last week -- then why build Terminal 2?
Emsley has two theories.
One: Eventually the port will shift some current inner-harbour business to Deltaport so that some of its downtown waterfront lands can be used to fetch very high prices as luxury-condo building sites.
Two: It simply wants to push the competition in Prince Rupert as far out of the picture as possible.
If that's the case, B.C. would seem to be repeating what many view as a mistake it made in the 1970s and '80s by developing northeast coal in direct export competition with southeast coal.
Terminal 2 also has several supporting projects attached to it, such as a major nearby rail yard expansion and the $1-billion South Fraser Perimeter Road.
Regardless, the Terminal 2 project kicks off with many more questions surrounding it than answers.
Busy, polluting cargo site may not be needed: Critics
Brian Lewis, The Province
Published: Sunday, June 17, 2007
The Vancouver Port Authority has taken its first concrete step toward building what will certainly be a controversial mega-project in Delta.
But the impacts of adding a three-berth second terminal (Terminal 2) to Deltaport will reach well beyond Delta, say critics.
In fact, last week's announcement by the port that it has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest to qualified companies to partner the VPA in planning, building and operating Terminal 2 quickly put a local volunteer citizens' group, Against Port Expansion, on red alert.
"They're in for a big fight, because our group is much better organized now," says spokesman Roger Emsley.
The group opposes Terminal 2 for many of the same reasons it tried, unsuccessfully, to block adding a third berth to the existing terminal.
It's concerned about the negative impacts from more trucks, trains, bunker oil-burning ships and the accompanying increases in air pollution. In fact, Terminal 2 is expected to triple the number of containers passing through Deltaport.
When the Third Berth project is completed in 2011, container truck traffic through Delta is expected to increase to 2,400 per day. Add Terminal 2 and this number triples, the group says.
It also suggests that expansion means Deltaport will quickly exceed the Greater Vancouver Regional District's standards for particulate matter.
Subsequently, prevailing westerly winds will carry these emissions up the Fraser Valley and raise air-quality concerns there -- much like the proposed Sumas 2 power plant did last year.
The port says both the Third Berth project and the much larger Terminal 2 initiative are needed to take advantage of Canada's growing trade with Asia. It also promises full community consultation in the planning process.
But opponents say it's more likely that the port, with the blessing of Ottawa and Victoria, is building a white elephant much like Quebec's catastrophic Mirabel Airport.
They claim that with new container port capacity now being built in Prince Rupert, expansion of container ports in California and a new container port proposed for Oregon, the west coast is quickly approaching over-capacity.
More importantly, a widening of the Panama Canal is expected to be finished by 2014, which means that Asian exporters will then be able to transport containers to eastern North America exclusively by ship -- which is much cheaper than shipping overland by rail or truck.
Note that 53 per cent of all containers shipped through Vancouver ports are bound for the east.
If this is the case -- and the VPA didn't return phone calls late last week -- then why build Terminal 2?
Emsley has two theories.
One: Eventually the port will shift some current inner-harbour business to Deltaport so that some of its downtown waterfront lands can be used to fetch very high prices as luxury-condo building sites.
Two: It simply wants to push the competition in Prince Rupert as far out of the picture as possible.
If that's the case, B.C. would seem to be repeating what many view as a mistake it made in the 1970s and '80s by developing northeast coal in direct export competition with southeast coal.
Terminal 2 also has several supporting projects attached to it, such as a major nearby rail yard expansion and the $1-billion South Fraser Perimeter Road.
Regardless, the Terminal 2 project kicks off with many more questions surrounding it than answers.