White Rock is the latest city to oppose coal facility
Posted July 30, 2013 8:23 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WHITE ROCK (NEWS1130) – White Rock City Council says it doesn’t want a coal facility at Fraser Surrey Docks.
Concerns over increased train traffic along the White Rock strip and coal dust were raised before council unanimously came out in opposition to the project.
If the $15-million facility is approved, it will be able to handle up to four million metric tonnes of coal per year. The coal would be brought in by rail.
“I just find it is so intrusive,” Hannah Newman with the group Coal Free White Rock tells News1130.
“This isn’t like a little Amtrak train. They’re very long and they take a long time to pass by. The reason people come to White Rock is to walk along the promenade and then you have these humungous trains. We have no say in what happens right in front of us, and that really bothers me.”
Port Metro Vancouver says train cars carrying coal are sprayed to ensure dust isn’t an issue. That was questioned last month when a video surfaced last month that appears to show coal dust blowing off rail cars in Delta.
Vancouver and New Westminster are also opposed to the facility.
Newman’s group is holding a public forum tonight at 7 p.m. at the United Church, 15385 Semiahmoo Ave, in White Rock. Dr. Frank James is being brought in from Bellingham to discuss health issues associated with coal trains.
