Proposed B.C. pipeline terminus, port expansion referred to Major Projects Office

Project includes Delta-based Robert Banks Terminal 2 and a land review for a 40-acre site in Richmond

A proposal for a potential pipeline terminus and multibillion-dollar expansion of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 in Delta, B.C., is being referred to the Major Projects Office. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said in a press conference in Delta on Thursday that he has referred the Port of Vancouver Gateway Strategy to the MPO. This project includes the expansion of the container shipping terminal and a proposal for a terminal for Alberta’s West Coast Oil Pipeline in the region.

The expansion of RBT2 has been through more than a decade of regulatory reviews. The investment will expand the site into a three-berth terminus. It promises to deliver 17,000 jobs to the region and enable an additional $100-billion of new container trade annually.

Listing RBT2 in the MPO will bring the project into a single regulatory process, said the news release. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will also be launching a separate process to select an operator for a major terminal at a 40-acre site in Richmond site as part of the Gateway Strategy. VFPA will launch the process on July 20, and the MPO be involved in the selection process.

The Gateway Strategy also includes plans to improve rail infrastructure passing through the Port of Vancouver – the largest in the country – and buttress environmental protections in the region, such as funding for the protection of whales and their habitats.