http://www.edmontonjournal.com/index.html
It’s what some on the West Coast might regard as an inconvenient truth. Although it is known for its spectacular natural beauty and as a hotbed of environmental activism, Vancouver is actually built on old-fashioned resource wealth.
Many of the key commodities Canada exports to the world – from lumber, pulp, coal and wheat to potash and yes, even Alberta’s crude oil – have been shipped for decades through the city’s sprawling port.
Already Canada’s busiest cargo hub and a vital link for Asian imports, Port Metro Vancouver plans to boost capacity by 50 per cent over the next 15 years. Yet, the port is only one aspect of the crucial role Vancouver plays in Canada’s resource-driven economy, which needs expanded access to Asia’s fast-growing markets to ensure the country’s future prosperity.
Dozens of major mining, forest products and resource services firms are based in Vancouver, with operations all over the world. These firms in turn drive much of the activity in the city’s legal, accounting and investment firms.
Although the scandal-plagued Vancouver Stock Exchange is long gone, hundreds of junior resource firms are still headquartered in Vancouver.
Given its rich history as a resource centre and its strategic role as Canada’s Pacific Gateway, some may be surprised to learn that Vancouver’s mayor and city council vehemently oppose a pipeline project that would boost the flow of Alberta bitumen to the city’s port and on to Asian markets.
Under the $5-billion plan proposed by U.S. pipeline giant Kinder Morgan, capacity on its existing oil pipeline – which has operated for some 60 years between Edmonton and B.C.’s Lower Mainland – would nearly triple to 850,000 barrels per day.
If completed as planned by 2017, the expansion would boost the number of oil tankers plying the waters of Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet to between 25 and 30 per month, up from five to 10 vessels a month now.
Even so, the increased flow of tankers under the iconic Lions Gate Bridge would account for just a fraction of the port’s overall traffic volumes, which totalled 2,832 vessels in 2010.
Ironically, until Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson began ringing the alarm bells on the project, it’s unlikely many local residents were even aware that oil tankers have been safely operating in Burrard Inlet for decades.
But that surely changed after Robertson penned an opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun, in which he painted a dystopic picture of future tanker accidents and oily devastation.
“Think of images beamed worldwide, showing oil-fouled seals, herons and Canada geese on the crude-blackened sand at English Bay and Kits Beach,” he wrote. “The damage to Vancouver tourism and our destination brand would be exceeded only by the toll on our local marine habitat.”
On Wednesday, Robertson and his city councillors passed a motion slamming Kinder Morgan’s “radical” proposal.
Since the proposed pipeline would operate on an existing right-of-way, and since both the pipeline and the port fall under federal jurisdiction, some might dismiss Robertson’s stance as little more than political grandstanding.
For the rest of this editorial, please go to the Edmonton Journal’s website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Editorial+Vancouver+forgets+lifeblood+resources/6571284/story.html