According to a document filed with Canada’s Major Project Management Office (MPMO) on July 20, Canpotex still plans to build a potash terminal on Ridley Island, south of the coal terminal. While nothing is certain yet, the filed document, titled “Project Description Final” and prepared by Stantec Engineering, is the most positive indication in almost two years that shovels may one day go in the ground.
After representatives from the company visited Rupert in September 2009 and held a public presentation at the Lester Centre of the Arts, the community shared an optimism that had not existed since the early days of construction of the container port. Promising a decision by the end of 2009, Canpotex reps said they were deciding whether or not to build a potash terminal in Rupert or in North Vancouver.
The year came and went, and so did 2010, without a peep from Canpotex. Repeated requests for information by Muskeg News, and presumably by other media outlets, were stonewalled: the company farms its media-relations department out to a private company, based in Vancouver. When asking for comment for any little thing that arose over the past two years, Muskeg News was inevitably told “no comment” in a variety of ways.
As time went by, Rupertites grew more skeptical of the company, or, indeed, put it out of their thoughts altogether. The occasional rumour flared up, saying either that Canpotex was never coming, or that it was. No one was certain; everything was a speculation.
It didn’t help, either, that Canpotex had actually put a stop to a federal environmental assessment on May 14, 2010. But on June 24 of this year, that process was quietly re-started, and the new engineering report was filed less than a month later, showing that the project is still very much alive, even if nothing is official quite yet.
The environmental assessment is managed through the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. “The reason for continuing the environmental assessment at this time is that we received an official letter from the proponent notifying us that they wished to proceed,” wrote Maxine Leger-Haskell, a communications advisor with the Agency, in an email to Muskeg News.
While that may bring a bit of optimism to the community, further optimism may come from the engineering report that was filed on behalf of Canpotex and the Prince Rupert Port Authority. The project to build a potash terminal, in this case, is linked closely to the Port’s plans to build a circular rail system at Ridley Island, a development plan that was mentioned at its annual public meeting earlier this year.
“The PRPA road, rail and utility corridor will service the Canpotex facility as well as other future developments on Ridley Island,” states the report in its introduction. “A single environmental assessment is being proposed for these two projects as they are seen as interdependent and cannot proceed without each other.”
Numerous maps in the report show the Port plans to use the existing rail lines and extend them in a loop around Ridley Island. The loop would be 7,818 metres long, with railbeds for up to 14 inbound and 11 outbound tracks. The total area for the rail loop is 125 hectares. The potash terminal, on other hand, consists of a storage facility, a marine wharf, a trestle, a causeway, and a loading facility capable of receiving vessels of up to 180,000 dead weight tonnes. Canpotex’s portion of the project requires 21 hectares of land.
In the report, Canpotex also lays out its argument for building the potash terminal. A key ingredient in fertilizers, potash has seen an increased demand due to global food demand. The potash mines in Saskatchewan are some of the biggest deposits in the world. “Canpotex’s shareholders have planned a number of mine expansions and debottlenecking projects to increase output,” states the report in the “Project Need and Rationale” section. “For Canpotex to meet the needs of the global marketplace, additional potash export terminal capacity is required.” The company conducted “pre-feasibility” studies to develop such terminals in Rupert, Vancouver, Washington State and Oregon to increase the supply.
Page 19 of the report also lays out a tentative schedule for construction of the terminal and railyard. Construction could begin as early as spring 2013, with completion scheduled for the first quarter of 2016.
But they’re not there yet. The environmental assessment, which was put on hold for over a year, needs to first be completed. And, as part of federal law, aboriginal bands need to be consulted.
In this area, the report shows that Canpotex has been busy meeting with various aboriginal groups since February 2008. Over 20 meetings have been held, mostly with Lax Kw’alaams, Metlakatla, and Kitkatla (Gitxaala). The most recent meeting occurred on June 17 between Canpotex, Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla in Vancouver. While other agencies, such as Environment Canada and Fisheries & Oceans, have also met with Canpotex, the majority of meetings listed are with aboriginal bands.
Outside of the process to build a terminal, Canpotex has made a major pricing agreement with India after extensive negotiations. At the Port’s annual public meeting earlier this year, the drop in potash prices two years ago was blamed for the delay in Canpotex’s decision to build a terminal.
And even with the re-start of the environmental review and the new draft of the engineering report, a potash terminal still isn’t a for-sure thing. In an interview with Muskeg News, the Port’s manager of corporate communications, Michael Gurney, said the timeline could change. He also downplayed the re-start of the environmental review, saying there is nothing extraordinary about it. “It’s just business as usual,” he said. “It’s the next step in the environmental assessment.”
Meanwhile, as the Northwest economy continues to struggle, Rupert continues to seek a white knight to revive its fortunes – but it hasn’t arrived, yet.
~Written by Chris Armstrong - Muskegnews.com
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Monday, August 15, 2011
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