Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) has been approved by the Canadian government. Less than a mile away from the US/Canada border, RBT2 is a new container ship terminal project that would wreck the hard work we in Washington are doing to protect and recover our endangered Southern Residents and their critical habitat.
• RBT2 is HUGE! It would be 267 acres (larger than 202 football fields), off shore and over water, in the ecologically-rich Fraser River estuary.
• RBT2 would welcome the Ultra-Large Container Vessels that can carry millions of gallons of propulsion fuel through the Salish Sea.
• Vessel traffic would increase by up to 520 transits per year – increasing vessel noise, oil spill risks, and ship strikes.
• Vital Salish Sea habitat would be lost – for migratory birds, orca, and salmon.
What is Canada thinking?!
TELL CANADA TO SAVE ORCAS AND REJECT RBT2!
WRITE TO BC, CANADA BY MIDNIGHT ON THURSDAY, JUNE 8:
• Tell them why they should reject this unacceptable project. You may use the suggested comments from Friends of the San Juans (see below).
• Go to the public comment website and select “Submit Comments” at upper right. “How it Works” guidelines will pop up (i.e. don’t include personal information in the text of your comments).
• Follow the instructions to submit your comments.
COMMENT LETTER FROM FRIENDS OF THE SAN JUANS:
Comment Letter Bullet Points:
• Please extend the comment period with appropriate notice to impacted communities and Tribes in Washington State.
• Please confirm that this environmental assessment process complies with the Memorandum of Understanding Between the Washington State Department of Ecology and the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office.
• The Coastal Marine Strategy for British Columbia makes commitments to a healthy and productive coast (specifically to help recover Southern Resident killer whales). RBT2 contradicts that commitment.
• Approval of RBT2 ignores the amount of habitat destruction and further endangerment of at-risk species resulting from this project.
• Both the Canadian Government’s Decision Statement and the Draft Table of Provincial Conditions for RBT2 include conditions that are too vague to be enforced or are otherwise not practically enforceable.
THANK YOU TO THE WARRIORS ON THE FRONT LINE!
• The Lummi Nation in Washington State filed for a judicial review of the project in Canadian federal court, arguing that Canada failed to “consult and accommodate” the nation on the “potential adverse impacts” the project could have on the community’s Aboriginal rights and title in Canada.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/19/lummi-nation-canada-port-extension-project
• A group of Canadian conservationists (The David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Committee) has filed for a judicial review, citing that “the federal government has failed Canadians by approving this new terminal. Their own environmental review showed this project could condemn southern resident killer whales, and the chinook salmon they depend on, to extinction”.
MORE INFO:
Thank you, Safe Shippers, for using your Orca Voices during Orca Action Month and always!
San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping 