To prairie farmers, Roberts Bank is a place to build a grain terminal.
To the people who live in Delta, B.C., it is part of the neighborhood.
Before they can move into the neighborhood, Cargill Ltd. and Sask-atchewan Wheat Pool must go through a long, costly process seeking local approval to build the grain export facility.
“People in the area aren’t that familiar with a grain terminal of this type or size, so they don’t really know what to expect,” said Lindsay Colin, a planner with the Vancouver Port Corporation. “Obviously they have concerns about their way of life, which is fairly rural.”
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Those concerns include such things as noise, dust, truck and train traffic, pests and the impact on birds and other wildlife.
The two companies already have held three meetings in the area to listen to local concerns.
Information from those meetings will help shape their environmental appraisal document, intended to provide regulators with a detailed description of the project, the rationale, the benefits, expected impacts on the environment and community and how the companies will address those issues.
The document will be submitted to an environmental review panel and released for public comment. The panel will hold at least one public meeting and eventually submit a report and recommendations to the Vancouver port’s board of directors.
A number of other groups and agencies also will have an opportunity to comment on the proposal, including the Municipality of Delta, aboriginal groups, the Canadian Coast Guard and the Fraser River Estuary Management Program’s environmental committee.
If all goes according to plan, the port corporation’s board of directors will decide on the proposal in October.
Walt Judas, public affairs official with the port, said initial indications are that there are no “alarming concerns.” The proposed grain facility could have less impact on the environment than the Westshore Coal Terminal already at Roberts Bank.
But he said the environmental review process can be unpredictable.
“I wouldn’t say it’s going to be difficult in this case, but it won’t be easy,” he said. “You get a real range of people involved and all it takes is one person to notice one thing, and suddenly it can become an issue.”
