A company operating on Texada Island is prepared to trans-ship thermal coal bound for Asia.
Jennifer Lewis, director, West Canada communications for Lafarge Canada Inc., wrote in an email to the Peak that Texada Quarrying (TQ), a wholly owned subsidiary of Lafarge, is prepared to expand its current coal trans-shipping operations to receive barges from Fraser Surrey Docks (FSD).
“Since TQ has been handling coal since 1990, environmental permits and safety standards are already in place,” she wrote. “Dust suppression and marine-specific safety activities will continue to assure employee and community health.”
FSD has applied to Port Metro Vancouver for a project permit to build coal-handling facilities within its existing terminal operations that would allow for the direct transfer of coal from trains to barges on a conveyor system.
The barges would carry coal to TQ through the Sabine Channel, located between Texada and Lasqueti islands, before transfer to deep-sea vessels for export to Asia.
FSD forecasts it would handle two million metric tonnes in 2013, increasing to four million in 2014. The coal would be delivered to Texada by two barges carrying 8,000 tonnes every two days in 2013, increasing to two barges a day in 2014 to 2017. While FSD’s application is specific up to year five, the full build-out of the proposal is for eight million tonnes of coal to be exported starting in year six.
Currently, TQ handles between 350,000 to 400,000 tonnes of coal annually from Hillsborough Resources Limited for its Quinsam mine operations near Campbell River on Vancouver Island.
As well, TQ has an agreement with Coalmont to handle more coal. “In the first quarter of 2013, we expect shipments from Coalmont,” Lewis wrote. “We are not at liberty to discuss contract details.”
TQ is actively looking at making improvements to the facility, however investment capital has not yet been approved, Lewis also wrote. “We hope to ship in the range of four to eight million tonnes per year as opportunities present themselves,” she wrote. “Approximately 10 to 15 jobs would be created, depending on volumes.”
The coal issue was discussed at a recent Texada Action Now (TAN) executive meeting, said Chuck Childress, chair. “It will be a topic for discussion at our public annual general meeting on January 13,” he said. “Personally, I have to be careful on this issue, as I am in a contractual relationship with the port owners and have been for more than 30 years.”
Having said that, Childress added that the Texada mines terminal has been a significant shipping/trans-shipping port for about 60 years with minimal environmental impact.
While it is part of the Powell River Regional District, Lasqueti is also part of the Islands Trust.
Sheila Malcolmson, chair of the Islands Trust Council, said the council passed a motion earlier this month to add the trust as a signatory to an open letter calling on the port authority to fully consult the public before making a decision on the FSD application.
The council is concerned about the increase in shipping traffic, climate change and the lack of a public process in the decision making, Malcolmson said.
The numbers the trust was given indicate that in year six there would be 640 fully-loaded barge tows going through the passage, two of them each day on average, Malcolmson said. “Each of those barge tows would be 8,000 tonnes each,” she said. “If the route we saw is the ultimate one, for such a remote area, it would be a huge increase in shipping traffic.”
The more boat traffic there is, the higher the risk for some kind of spill, Malcolmson added, including a fuel spill, which is cause for concern.
