British Columbia’s energy minister is supporting proposals to dredge and deepen Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet to allow fully loaded oil tankers, despite opposition from environmentalists, experts and First Nations.
The proposal, floated recently by Prime Minister Mark Carney, could lead to fewer tankers shipping more oil from the Trans Mountain pipeline to overseas markets.
The now-expansified TMX line has been operational since May of 2024 and there is pressure to widen it again as a means to further diversify energy exports outside the United States.
“Yes, we did say we support it, with the fact it would be to environmental standards, consultation standards (with First Nations) that you have,” said Energy Minister Adrian Dix in a recent interview.
Dix said it would be a federal project that “would permit less traffic at the port and more efficient use” since ships could load up completely.
“To do that (now), to load up completely would risk you hitting the bottom,” he said. “You don’t want to do that.”
The remarks are a flip by the NDP government back in 2017 when then-premier John Horgan promised to employ “every tool in the tool box” to attempt to halt the expansion of the pipeline.
The Supreme Court of Canada closed the B.C. government’s stand three years afterwards, deciding the province had no constitutional right to intervene in ventures crossing provincial lines, but remains First Nations, environmentalists and experts indicate a such an enlargement is worrisome.
Burrard Inlet dredging would permit Aframax-sized tankers loaded to capacity to transit under Vancouver’s Second Narrows Bridge following loading at the Westridge Marine Terminal on the water’s edge in Burnaby, the terminus of the 1,180 kilometre-long pipeline that starts near Edmonton.
The Aframax tankers are up to 250 metres in length with a draft as deep as 16 metres, but Trans Mountain states on its website that tankers of this kind tend to load to around 80 per cent capacity to allow for clearance in Port Metro Vancouver.
Juan José Alava, lead researcher with the Ocean Pollution Research Unit at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of B.C., said any proposal to dredge the area must be thoroughly examined due to its effects on the ecology of one of the “most beautiful areas, water bodies” in B.C.
Alava, whose residence is nearby the inlet, explained that it’s extremely shallow with a median depth of 21 metres and a top depth of 66 metres. Short-term and long-term effects to the ecology of the inlet through dredging might occur, according to him.
Dredging suspends more solids in the water, making it more turbid, he explained. Increased turbidity in turn inhibits phytoplankton production, the foundation of the food pyramid. Larger animals, fish and mammals such as seals and killer whales would be affected, he added.
“So you can have a real cascade effect in the ecosystem,” Alava explained.
Dredging also would affect salmon’s capacity to spawn and would free contaminants captured on the sea bed, he said.
It is unclear how much material would have to be taken out at what cost without all of the information before him, said Enda Murphy, assistant professor of civil engineering in the department of civil engineering at the University of B.C.
It is not a massive project in relation to the millions of cubic meters annually extracted from the adjacent Fraser River, he said.
He concurred with Alava on several aspects, including the risks involved in excavating pollutants that have built up over the decades of industrial application.
“(That) can be threatening to nearby shorelines, especially communities that have been attempting to restore sections of Burrard Inlet such as Tslei-Waututh (First) Nation.”
Any future dredging of the Burrard Inlet to allow for heavier tankers would also need to take into account possible effects on shore lines through their wakes and on other vessels, Murphy said.
Any future dredging project would need fairly exhaustive studies, but the technology and equipment are available, he said.
That would be outweighed by the necessity of dealing with the First Nations and other groups surrounding the inlet, which would be “highly political,” Murphy explained.
None of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation was able to be interviewed, but Chief Jen Thomas stated in a written response that it has “not received any formal engagement regarding a proposed dredging of Burrard Inlet to facilitate further oil shipments past our community.”
Thomas described Burrard Inlet and the Second Narrows as significant cultural, spiritual, historical, economic and ecological locations for the country.
“Proposing to dredge up the seabed, which is a part of us culturally, is a serious matter,” Thomas explained, saying Tsleil-Waututh First Nation will “certainly have something more to say on this topic” when it sees and has a chance to digest such a proposal.
She adds that the Tsleil-Waututh have inherent and constitutionally protected title and rights to the land.
“The Crown needs to recall that TWN is an order of government with jurisdiction over these issues as well, and Tsleil-Waututh warns those who speak as if this project has been pre-approved.”
Lucero Gonzalez, Wilderness Committee conservation and policy campaigner, said Burrard Inlet and the Salish Sea cannot support megaprojects like TMX, if B.C. wishes to maintain those ecosystems and threatened species such as the Southern Resident orcas that rely on them.
“Doubling down on ecological devastation on a project that was never ecologically or economically sound is an absolute political failure,” Gonzales said.
Dix stressed that the dredging would be a federal, not a provincial project.
“We just made it clear that we’d have no objection other than it obviously meets all the proper standards.”
Carney had first raised the possibility of deepening Burrard Inlet on March 21 as one of several potential projects to develop Canada’s natural resources and infrastructure.
Dix had previously indicated his government’s endorsement, such as on April 17 during question period, when Opposition Conservative Gavin Dew queried whether he was collaborating with officials to accelerate a second expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline and the dredging of Burrard Inlet.
“It’s my opinion that since we got public investment, that private investment and the gravity of energy matters, we should make maximum possible utilization of what we constructed (the pipeline),” Dix said. “We constructed it. We financed it. We should utilize it.”
Dew, in an interview, expressed support for dredging the Burrard Inlet, with the added caveat that it “clearly has to be done in a responsible and compliant” manner.
“But it’s just plain old commercial sense we shouldn’t be wasting tankers,” he remarked. “And then the pipeline was plain old sense when the NDP were strongly opposed to it for years and years.”
Jeremy Valeriote, the interim leader of B.C. Greens, said they were surprised this issue has reared its head in “absence of any actual proposal or additional details” from the government.
Valeriote wrote in a statement that he would like to see a comprehensive environmental review, serious consultation with the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation and a “clear explanation of the rationale and possible effects” if dredging Burrard Inlet.
“It’s not the type of decision that should be floated lightly or undertaken without rigorous public scrutiny,” he said.
Dix concurred that the project must be completely reviewed by the federal government, noting that the provincial government already talked to Tsleil-Waututh First Nation.
“Clearly, it is not yet a project,” Dix stated. “It’s not our project, but we did (speak with the nation) prior to sharing our opinions on this.”