Hundreds of residents turned up at a rally in New Westminster Sunday to express their displeasure over a proposed coal transfer facility.
Paula Williams, a stay-at-home mom turned community organizer, is the co-founder of grassroots group Communities and Coal which planned the Take Back Our Port rally. She said the impacts associated with coal transport are cause for concern.
“Coal dust and diesel particular matter cause a lot of respiratory illness and cancers,” she said. “There's safety issues for people, there's also emergency access cutoff."
Rally attendee Spiro Karfakis said he is apprehensive about the proposed plan.
"I'm not so sure I want a bunch of coal trains driving by my house," he said.
Karfakis said more information about the proposed coal transfer facility.
"I think it's been very very hush-hush. There hasn't been a whole lot. I live right by the tracks and I never received anything from the port,” he said.
New Westminster Mayor Wayne Wright said he will not support plans without evidence that facility will be safe.
"We started by asking the easy questions. ‘Tell us if it's medically okay’ and ‘Tell us what's going to happen’ and we can't get a lot of the answers," he said.
Wright said surrounding communities are united in their quest for information.
“It's not just the city of New Westminster. We've got Delta, we've got Surrey, we've got Richmond. All these people. Look at White Rock, they're taking a hard stand just as us."
Williams said 11,000 people have signed a petition voicing their concern about the coal transfer facility.
Port Metro Vancouver told CTV News it required Surrey Fraser Docks to address concerns around coal dust, have a plan to avoid coal stockpiles and conduct an environmental impact assessment. The port will then seek public comment.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Penny Daflos.
