Chuck Chiang: First Nations biggest barriers to energy shippers – Calgary Herald
August 24, 2014
The decision by Port Metro Vancouver to allow construction of a terminal to handle coal from the United States is a small hole in the green wall that has been going up along the continent’s West Coast.
This green wall is a sign of a political, social and ideological fault lines separating the coast from energy-producing regions inland. The energy-producing regions are eager to sell their products to Asia, and the staunchly environmental coastal regions stand squarely in the way.
Thursday’s port decision is even more significant given that Oregon rejected a similar project days earlier.
The Oregon decision strengthened the green wall in the U.S. so much that there may be no remaining hope for American coal producers seeking to export from U.S. ports. While two other coal port terminals are being proposed in Washington state, that state sets far tougher hurdles than Oregon. The Oregon project was Wyoming coal’s best chance at finding an American outlet in the Northwest.
Both Metro Vancouver’s Surrey Fraser Docks proposal and the Ambre Energy proposal for Morrow, Ore., were judged environmentally acceptable by consulting companies.
