The Port of Vancouver’s oil terminal lease allows for build-out of a second facility. It also allows the possible export of high-sulfur Alberta tar sands crude. (An accidental hydrogen sulfide release at the port could sicken or kill thousands within minutes.) Derived from Table 5.14.1 in Tesoro’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council application, estimates of 195,000 pounds per year of toxic pollutants can be pumped into Vancouver’s air, which could sicken or kill residents over time.
The in-favor camp accuses us of mental laziness when they expect the word “jobs” to magically make a project a good idea. The opposition camp lives up to that accusation if “global warming” is the only issue they can articulate. Talk is cheap.
For real progress, those with concerns need to talk about the dozens of other issues an oil terminal in Vancouver raises. For real progress, the port and its new tenant should address these concerns with contractually binding solutions.
Eric LaBrant
Vancouver
