Editor:
Here's an idea: two birds with one stone! Problem is, one bird has a long-term, renewable contract.
What if, instead of constructing an environmentally controversial new island for Terminal 2 at Roberts Bank, Port Metro Vancouver instead moved the Westshore Terminals coal port elsewhere and used the space freed up for Terminal 2? What if Delta and Point Roberts residents were liberated from decades of coal dust?
An objective of Port Metro Vancouver in maximizing container port capacity is optimization of rail traffic. Wouldn't that be easier if they didn't share tracks with 100-car coal trains?
I asked Port Metro Vancouver representatives about this in one of their Terminal 2 stakeholder meetings. They looked at each other with puzzled expressions, and then answered that even though the port owns the land, the coal port has a long-term contract with Westshore Terminals and Westshore doesn't want to move.
When asked if they had broached the subject with Westshore, they had no more to say.
I don't know if coal port relocation to enable Terminal 2 makes sense, but it appears Port Metro Vancouver hasn't considered it. Shouldn't Delta demand the port consider an obviously more environmentally responsible alternative?
Ed Ries
