On April 20th 2023, the federal government approved the dramatic expansion of the Port of Vancouver in the form of a three-berth container terminal, called Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2), This expansion is right at the heart of the Fraser River Estuary, one of North America’s most biodiverse areas. The development is predicted to increase the number of container shipments to the terminal by 50 percent.
The project’s approval came despite significant public opposition, including from environmental groups, scientists, labour worker unions and thousands of Canadians. It also ignored the large body of evidence, including the government’s own Independent Review Panel, indicating that the project will have lasting and irreversible adverse environmental effects that will further endanger Southern Resident orcas, wild Pacific salmon and one hundred more already at-risk species.
This project will threaten highly biodiverse and at-risk habitat the size of 177 football fields, furthering the unprecedented biodiversity crisis, while increasing tanker traffic, underwater noise, oil spill risk and climate destabilization.
Putting the economy, at all costs, above the environment is the reason we’re experiencing such alarming biodiversity loss and impacts from climate change.
Effects on Southern Resident orcas
Image: Adobe Stock Images
With only 73 individuals left in the wild, Southern Resident orcas are already critically endangered and suffering from a variety of anthropogenic threats that are actively impeding their recovery, including insufficient food, underwater noise and toxic contamination. There is no doubt that RBT2 will put unnecessary pressure on this fragile species by increasing underwater noise in their critical habitat, which will further impede their ability to find food, communicate and travel, while also destroying important habitat for their prey, wild Pacific salmon.
The situation for Southern Resident orcas is dire and Roberts Bank Terminal 2 will only make it worse.
“Decisions like these are putting immense pressure on the 73 southern resident orcas left in the wild and increasing their chances of extinction.”
~ quote by Lucero González Ruiz, in the National Observer: Feds face court challenge over Metro Vancouver port expansion that will endanger killer whales
Effects on Pacific Salmon
Image: Fernando Lessa
RBT2 will destroy 177 hectares of highly biodiverse habitat, including highly modifying the functional habitat that juvenile and other salmon depend on to survive during their big migration to the ocean and then back to their natal streams and rivers.
Destruction of functional habitat changes the use of those lands and waters and is one of the greatest threats to at-risk species and a principal driver of biodiversity loss globally.
Photo Credit: Tom Middleton
The Fight Is Not Over – Our Next Steps
Even though the Federal government approved RBT2, the project still needs additional permits and must go through other processes to start construction and therefore, there are still ways to stop it.
As a first step, Georgia Strait Alliance, along with our allies at David Suzuki Foundation, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Committee, represented by Ecojustice, have legally challenged the project’s approval in the form of a judicial review.
Our lawyers will argue that the approval is unlawful because a project cannot be deemed “justified” under environmental assessment legislation when it is contrary to the Species at Risk Act.
“The devastating approval of the RBT2 expansion project makes the fear many of us have of seeing the Southern Resident orcas and wild pacific salmon go functionally extinct during our lifetimes so much more real”
~ quote by Lucero González Ruiz, on CTV News – Longshore union sides with environmental groups opposed to Delta terminal expansion
Ways to get involved:
Background
The proposed Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion.
The Salish Sea is home to nearly 9 million people as well as a growing number of threatened or endangered species, including Southern Resident orcas, Chinook salmon, shorebirds such as the Western Sandpiper and numerous species of rockfish. It is also home to the Fraser Estuary, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of North America and one of the world’s richest in biodiversity.
Canada’s busiest port, the Port of Vancouver (also known as the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority), operates in the Salish Sea region. In 2011, the Port of Vancouver served over 3000 vessels carrying 122.5 million tons of cargo. Shipping traffic associated with the Port negatively impacts local waterways by polluting the region’s air and water and by increasing underwater noise.
The proposed Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion project threatens the survival of at-risk species in the Salish Sea.
Communities around the region are concerned about the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 proposal and have been making those concerns heard. It is thanks to their hard work that there is growing pressure on the federal government to reject the proposal.
Environmental Assessment
Chinook salmon (USFWS).
In March 2020, the panel responsible for the environmental assessment of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project publicly released their recommendations. The panel concluded that the development will result in a “significant adverse effect” on endangered Southern Resident orcas and several other at-risk marine species. The report also concluded that the proposed development has the “potential to change various aspects of Indigenous current use and cultural heritage resources”.
Read a summary of the Federal Review Panel’s key findings here.
