Coal, Fraser River Ports, transit plebiscite response and $700 million borrowing at Metro Vancouver Meeting (Friday, July 31, 9am)

Neptune Terminal, North Vancouver. A new coal port is under consideration at the Fraser Surrey Docks

The final meeting of the Metro Vancouver Board before the summer break will take place on Friday, July 31 starting at 9am. The meeting will be live-streamed on the GVRD website.

There’s a very full agenda for the main Metro Board Meeting (a 36 Mb download). The Safe Energy Leadership Alliance (SELA) will provide the Metro Board with information on the “full costs and risks of coal export and the growing surge in oil transport by rail and barge” in the region. Another presentation on Inland Terminals will be reviewed. There are currently proposals to construct a new coal export terminal at the Fraser Surrey docks and to export LNG (the plans may include the dredging and deepening the river bed and the replacement of the Massey tunnel).

A raft of changes in land use designations to the Regional Growth Strategy will be viewed; it appears that the RGS is being amended on a regular basis. The annual baseline report of the “Progress toward Shaping our Future 2014” will be considered (wrt to the RGS). GVRD staff will be asked prepare a response to the failed transit plebiscite vote. A separate motion on notice called “Public Transit Governance Structures” will also be debated. A review of the Air Quality Advisories for June and July of 2015 will be considered.

The Water District meeting agenda does not contain any items to discuss additional moves by the region to deal with the ongoing drought or a review of the current water shortage response plan. However, a part of the meeting is set to go in-camera. The agenda also shows that a sale of up to $700,000,000 of worth of debt has been authorized by the Greater Vancouver Water District to repay or refinance previously borrowed debt that is coming up for maturity.