The Government of Canada, in Budget 2021, made a historic investment of $976.8 million to meet Canada's 2025 Marine Conservation Targets to protect the health of our oceans and give our important habitats, species and ecosystems a chance to survive and thrive. Also in 2021, the federal government announced $26.6 million in funding to help better understand noise pressures on marine mammals such as the Southern Resident Killer Whale. And, $18.5 million has been announced to support projects across British Columbia to help restore coastal aquatic habitats that will benefit a number of key species, such as Chinook salmon, and the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale.
Why spend $1 billion taxpayer dollars to protect ocean habitats, species and ecosystems on the one hand, but not stop the Port of Vancouver’s $3.5 billion taxpayer-backed environmentally-damaging Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) on the other hand, especially when there is a better, environmentally-conscious solution being proposed by GCT Global Container Terminals?
Watch video: Environmental problems with Port of Vancouver's Roberts Bank Terminal 2
Environment and Climate Change Canada characterizes the environmental impacts of the Port of Vancouver’s RBT2 as "permanent, irreversible, and, continuous".
The Federal Review Panel for RBT2 concluded that the project would result in "numerous significant adverse residual and cumulative effects, including on Dungeness crab, on ocean-type juvenile Chinook salmon, and on the Southern Resident Killer Whale."
And most recently, Canada’s National Observer reported that noise pollution research must be combined with specific goals to help endangered killer whales.
It is time to consider the facts, the data, the science, and the economy. It is time to #RejectRBT2 and choose to build a #BetterDeltaport.
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