Stop endangering the Fraser Estuary

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Editor:

Re: Nature Notes: The return of our wintering birds (Optimist, Oct. 27)

Kathleen Fry’s evocative description of the migrating birds arriving in Delta struck a chord with me.

This was in stark contrast to the disaster that took place on Oct. 22 just off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, when a container ship headed for Deltaport on Roberts Bank lost over 100 containers in heavy seas. We may never know the extent of the environmental damage caused; it’s already clear that it’s significant.

We must oppose any further development with the potential to endanger the Fraser Estuary. This unique and essential habitat is already under serious threat from commercial and urban activity on land in the area and increased shipping traffic.

The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project has already been proven to be unnecessary from a business point of view, and will exponentially increase the number of container trucks and trains, contributing to more air and noise pollution. It will destroy over 1,000 hectares of habitat and has already been condemned by Environment and Climate Change Canada scientists who have said the project’s impacts on biofilm (a critical food source for millions of shorebirds) “are anticipated to be high in magnitude, permanent, irreversible, and, continuous.”

Do we really need to know anything else?

This article originally titled Letters: Stop the attack on the Fraser Estuary written by Debra Probert was originally published in the Delta Optimist.


Watch: Environmental impacts of Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2



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