October 5, 2014 Lasqueti Island - In response to the announcement of the approval of permits for the shipment of US thermal coal through Greater Vancouver, the Fraser River, and up the Salish Sea to Texada Island, citizens in the region protested by Occupying the Sabine Channel on Saturday, October 4, 2014. More than 150 people, primarily from Lasqueti Island’s 426 population, came out in boats and on the shoreline to object to the Salish Sea being the staging ground for the export of dirty Thermal coal from Wyoming and Montana to Asia. Several boats were also there from Texada and Thetis islands. Disallowed by US ports to date, this polluting and dirty coal will come by train across the border to the Fraser/Surrey docks (up to 2 trains per day, each train up to 1km long.) From there, the coal would be reloaded onto open topped barges & transported down the Fraser River, a globally significant Important Bird Area and the largest fish spawning river for BC’s wild salmon, and up the very narrow Sabine Channel between Lasqueti and Texada Islands. The open-topped barges would then be off-loaded by conveyor at the Lafarge limestone quarry site on Texada Island, and then re-loaded onto 965’ long huge bulk cargo freighters which will travel past Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and many Gulf Islands to the Pacific and its final destination in Asia. The plan is to increase the coal currently transported there from Campbell River, from less than 400,000 tonnes per year currently to 4 million tonnes per year — and possibly to 8 million tonnes of thermal coal per year in the future. “We are deeply concerned that the shipping and handling of so much thermal coal will release coal dust into the air and the marine environment”, says Andrew Fall, from Coal Dust Free Salish Sea. “Yet the province of BC did not require an Environmental Impact Assessment, and neither the province nor Port Metro Vancouver required a Health Impact Assessment, despite requests from the public and health authorities – this is unacceptable.” The states of Oregon and Washington take the threats of thermal coal export seriously - Oregon denied a proposed export facility, while two proposals in Washington are undergoing extensive public and environmental reviews amid strong elected official and citizen opposition. The Sierra Club found coal in nearly every stream which coal trains passed over on their way from the US to Delta Port in Tsawwassen. More than 90% of the respondents to the Port of Vancouver’s Fraser-Surrey Dock’s proposal opposed the export of coal through BC from the US. But provincial and federal governments don’t seem to be listening. “For such a small community, this is an amazing turn out!” said Sheila Harrington, a participant in the 40+ boat flotilla that crossed the Sabine Channel on Saturday. Everybody on the island can get behind objecting to the transport of coal past our islands. The people here are taking a stand for a Coal Dust Free Salish Sea. We want a future that is in the public, not private, interest, and that protects the rich marine and coastal environment that creates a healthy BC economy.“

• published: 09 Oct 2014
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