Fraser Surrey Docks/Texada Island coal trans-shipment proposal protest Thursday, May 23
I received this email from Donald Gordon.
Sunday I went past the gravel export facility on Texada, north of the Cheekeye-Dunsmuir power lines. There was a pile of coal there, probably from Vancouver Island, and a huge clearing behind it, almost certainly to prepare for hundreds of tons of coal to be shipped from Wyoming through Vancouver, brought in barges to Texada to be unloaded, stored, then loaded onto huge freighters to go to Asia to be burned. Someone will make money. There'll be a few jobs in BC - probably very few, and the climate will get warmer, and sea level will rise. Pretty stupid, but we can do something to object to it and at least try to prevent it.
This Thursday May 23, we want to send the message to the Port Authority that it is completely illegitimate for the public regulator, the federal agent in charge, our Port Authority, to hand off public consultation to the company that wants to build the coal port. Furthermore, open houses themselves are not public consultation, they are public relations. Further-furthermore, both open houses are in Surrey -- nothing in New West, in White Rock, or Delta, or Texada Island, or Powell River, despite the fact that this is a proposal with major regional implications.
This is wrong from top to bottom and we reject it. We won't legitimize it be encouraging people to attend these open houses. The Port Authority must hold full public hearings on this issue: invite public testimony, bring in expert witnesses, allow the public to challenge decision makers, all recorded and done transparently.
With this Thursday event, we will shine a media spotlight on the Port as decision maker that is avoiding responsibility. We are inviting a wide range of people to join us: delegates from each neighbourhood, from all the concerned NGO's, health leaders, Semiahamoo FN and municipal councillors, MLA's, MP's, concerned high profile citizens, and people on Texada and Lasqueti. We will deliver all the letters collected over the past six months, all the petitions signed in Surrey and New West, and we demand that Robin Silvester and the Board come out and receive them. We tell them to do their job. We will be inviting media en masse.
Like our previous gathering at the Port Authority offices (which was joined by several Lasquetians as well as a Nobel-prize-sharing economist and many others), this will be a dignified affair. Formal, righteous anger.
Please forward this email to anyone that you think would be interested.
Donald Gordon
This appeal is going out to everyone who signed the open letter in November 2012 calling on the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to delay a decision on coal export expansion pending full public consultation. The Port Authority has so far ignored our call and intends to make a final decision soon on a new coal port in Surrey and on Texada Island. This is a crucial time to send them a clear public message and we'd like you to be involved: Thursday, May 23rd at 1 pm at the Port Authority offices, Canada Place, Vancouver.
We've challenged the Port Authority for six months over plans to build a new coal port on the Fraser River and on Texada Island, dedicated to the export of US thermal coal, and we are now entering the final stages of this stand off. Earlier this week, after repeated demands from concerned citizens, community associations, health leaders, public health authorities, municipal governments, Metro Vancouver, MLA's and federal MP's that it fulfil its mandate and properly consult the public, the Port Authority announced that it had asked the company that wants to build the coal port, Fraser Surrey Docks, to hold two open houses in Surrey so that we can all learn more about the project.
Their response to public concern is entirely inadequate. The Port Authority has been delegated powers by the federal government on the condition that it "operate with broad public support in the best interests of Canadians." As the responsible decision maker, it is the job of the Port Authority -- not the private company with a financial interest in the outcome -- to receive and respond to public concerns. To hand public consultation over to the project proponent is an abdication of responsibility.
We're not going to legitimize this flawed process by participating or encouraging the public to attend these open houses. Regional residents have not been asking for an opportunity to be educated by Fraser Surrey Docks at PR events; they have been demanding a thorough, expert consideration of the local and global implications of these plans and an opportunity to publicly express their concerns directly to the decision maker.
It's time they do their job.
We'd like you to be there to help deliver the message. We're working with the Wilderness Committee and the Dogwood Initiative to invite members of impacted local communities, faith leaders, representatives from civil society groups, academics, elected officials and others to join us in a formal procession to the Port Authority offices. We will deliver copies of all the letters and petitions opposing this project that have been collected over the last six months. We will demand the Port Authority commit to region wide public hearings on this important issue. We'll direct media attention straight at the Port just when they hope to shine it elsewhere, and we will make it clear that if they attempt to ignore our concerns and push this project through without proper consultation then they will have a fight on their hands.
Tuesday morning we'll send a message to the Port's Board of Directors to let them know we want them to receive us on Thursday afternoon. It's time they stopped hiding from the public.
We hope you can join us on Thursday May 23rd. We'll meet at 1 pm at the tourist kiosk in front of Canada Place (here: http://goo.gl/maps/96GlN). Please RSVP to this message if you can make it so we can provide you with updates closer to the event.
Sincerely,
Kevin Washbrook
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