The City of North Vancouver is, again, asking Port Metro Vancouver to conduct a more serious study into the health and environmental impacts of its recently approved coal and grain terminal expansion projects.
Coun. Rod Clark crafted the motion in light of the fact that community protest led PMV to agree to similar studies before approving coal export expansion at its Surrey Fraser dock while the North Vancouver projects were rubber stamped.
The city has been able to lobby for increased safety measures at Neptune in the past including spraying to control coal dust, but that only came about because former council member John Braithwaite held their feet to the fire, Clark said.
"It's not that they volunteered to do the stuff. We were right there with them saying 'You've got to do it. We're representing the community and we want the best deal for the
community.' Once again we find ourselves in that situation," he said.
But rather than putting the blame on Neptune, which has been a good corporate citizen, the lack of consultation falls at the feet PMV's board, Clark added.
"It shouldn't be up to us to ask for environmental and health impact assessments. It should have been them. They let it fall down and I'll tell you why they let it down. They don't have our needs at heart. They're an appointed board. They're a bunch of appointments from the federal arena."
While Clark's motion passed with a comfortable seven votes, a follow-up motion calling on the prime minister to change PMV's organizational structure to make PMV's board elected failed to pass.
