Updates on the US thermal coal export fight

It's been a big year in the campaign to prevent the expansion of US thermal coal exports from BC.  We wanted to offer a quick review of recent events and a brief preview of the year to come:

Texada Coal Port Legal Challenge
Our challenge of the province's decision to permit the massive expansion of US thermal coal exports from Texada Island was heard in BC Supreme Court in late October.  The judge has reserved her decision on whether or not to quash the permit to a later date.   Without the deep water facility on Texada Island, the plan to export US coal by barge from Surrey cannot go ahead.

A huge thank you to all the individual donors from Lasqueti and Texada, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver who made it possible for us to bring this challenge forward. Thanks as well to West Coast Environmental Law for their strong ongoing support for this case through the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund.  And finally, our sincere thanks to Tim Howard, our lawyer on the case, who is not only whip-smart but extremely gracious in his judicial dealings.  An interesting summary of the case, from a WCEL articling student, is found here.

Regardless of the outcome, we'll keep pushing the federal government to intervene in a review of the open barging of US thermal coal through our fragile Salish Sea. Learn more here.

Port Authority - Fraser Surrey Docks pending court challenge
We continue work with our friends at Communities and Coal to prepare for our 2015 legal challenge of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority's approval of a new coal port on the Fraser River. We're arguing that the Port failed to fulfill its responsibilities by ignoring the climate impacts that would be generated by the export of 4 million tonnes of US thermal coal each year from this facility, and that the Port showed bias in its decision making.  We're asking the courts to overturn this decision, and we welcomeNew Westminster and Surrey's intervention in the challenge.