Coal port likely first local casualty of carbon emissions agreement

Photo from Fraser Surrey Docks website

It seems unlikely that a coal export facility will ever be built at Fraser Surrey Docks, given the recent global agreement on how to reduce carbon emissions and China`s stated objective of reducing the amount of coal it burns to provide electricity.

Canada is among the 195 countries signing on to a worldwide plan to reduce carbon emissions, and attempt to keep global temperatures from rising.

The accord, reached in Paris after two weeks of intensive talks, calls for significant reductions in emissions from coal, natural gas and oil. It also calls for preservation and replanting of forests, transparency and regular five-year reviews of how countries are progressing, and an unspecified but significant subsidy from richer countries to poorer ones.

The new federal Liberal government wants to move forward and have an implementation plan in place, together with the provinces, in 90 days. Thus this accord will have a very significant effect on the South Fraser region.

Here’s some likely consequences.

The planned coal port at Fraser Surrey Docks will not be built, and there will be no trains hauling thermal coal along the BNSF tracks in White Rock, Surrey and Delta within the next few years. China says it wants to reduce its use of thermal coal, and the reductions will start with export projects that aren’t past the planning stage.

The number of trains hauling coal to Roberts Bank will also gradually diminish. Eventually, no thermal coal will be hauled there. It is also likely that there will be reductions in the amounts of metallurgical coal shipped there - the main type of coal exported from the Delta port.

However, there will likely be a significant increase in train traffic on all rail lines in the area. Trains use far less fuel per tonne hauled and are the greenest of all transportation options. New  commuter rail services may be offered on the present BNSF, CN and Southern Railway of B.C. lines.

Thus it would be a mistake to reroute the BNSF tracks off the waterfront near Crescent Beach and White Rock. More passenger train traffic on this route, both local and long-distance, is likely. There will be a need for passenger pickup locations in White Rock and Crescent Beach. The SRY line (the former interurban route) cuts straight across Surrey, and there could be a need for stations in Cloverdale, Sullivan, Newton, Kennedy and South Westminster. Tracks and signal systems will also require major upgrades.

Given all the above, there will definitely need to be a rail overpass over the tracks at Crescent Road, and quite possibly at some locations along SRY. The sooner Surrey begins planning for the Crescent Road overpass, the better. It’s a logical candidate for federal and provincial infrastructure funding.

In addition to new commuter rail services, there will need to be much more transit in all areas of the South Fraser region. That includes additional bus routes running over the Port Mann Bridge. Surrey will have to continue its push for more rapid transit, but for that to happen, TransLink must either be disbanded or changed significantly. There is no way Surrey and TransLink can together come up with one-third of the cost of the two planned rapid transit lines - the L line along 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard, and the line along Fraser Highway to Langley City.

Surrey will also have to change its ways in regards to tree cutting. The emphasis on preservation of forests in the accord does not just apply to places like Brazil – it also applies to places like the Green Timbers, where thousands of trees will fall under the current rapid transit construction plan, and to Campbell Heights, where expansion of industry will also lead to significant tree losses. The city must also change the way it manages trees on private lands set for development, and work to preserve many more than happens today.

Housing will have to change significantly. All new housing will likely be built to new standards requiring much less use of energy for both heating and cooling. In order to provide transportation when cars and fuel will be much more expensive due to carbon taxes, densities will need to increase in all areas near bus, rail and rapid transit lines.

A major reduction in carbon use means a major change in the way we do things, from transportation to home energy use. It also means that forest preservation must be a much higher priority. Local governments do not have the tax base to take on many of these changes, so perhaps the push to reduce carbon emissions will lead to amalgamation, in order to save funds and concentrate on carbon issues.

If Surrey, Delta, White Rock, B.C. and Canada are truly committed to making these significant changes, the sooner they start working on them, the better.