Ecojustice is calling on the Minister of Environment and Climate Change not to approve the proposed Terminal 2 expansion.
Located at the mouth of British Columbia’s Fraser River, the shipping terminal project proposed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority poses a threat to endangered killer whales, wild salmon, and other wildlife that rely on the Fraser estuary.
In 2019, Ecojustice represented the David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Straight Alliance, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and Wilderness Committee at a federal review panel hearing on the project. Ecojustice’s clients expressed concern about noise from vessel traffic associated with the expansion, marine pollution, threats to wild salmon and their rearing habitat, and threats to the other 119 species that call the Salish Sea home.
As a result, the federal review panel concluded that the expansion would have “numerous” adverse effects on the environment, including “significant adverse effects on Chinook salmon” and “significant adverse and cumulative effects on Southern Resident killer whales.”
The decision on whether to greenlight despite these impacts now lies in the hands of Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault.