Summary

• Alberta’s plan to build a pipeline to B.C.’s south coast includes a new terminal capable of servicing supertankers sailing into the Salish Sea.
• If the project goes ahead, very large crude carriers (VLCCs) capable of carrying up to 2.2 million barrels of oil could be loading up at Roberts Bank in the Fraser River estuary.
• A major expansion of the Roberts Bank superport is already in the works with potentially catastrophic impacts on local endangered species.

At the mouth of B.C.’s largest river, industrial development has encroached on important ecosystems for decades. Now, Canada’s plans to boost shipping infrastructure and create a new terminal for oil tankers could increase stress on endangered species and critical habitat.

The Fraser River is truly vast. Its tributaries carry water from nearly one-quarter of B.C., and its delta — the area where the river’s waters mingle with the Salish Sea — stretches from the Vancouver neighbourhood of Point Grey to the American settlement of Point Roberts.

In between, there are mudflats, sandy beaches, eelgrass beds and salt marshes that provide critical habitat for young salmon, migrating birds and countless other species.

“These are really productive environments for fish, for shellfish, for mammals, for birds,” Misty MacDuffee, a salmon biologist and director of Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s wild salmon program, says. 

Freshwater from the Fraser pushes all the way out to the Gulf Islands and the tidal flow from the Salish Sea can make its way all the way to Mission, MacDuffee told The Narwhal. That mingling of freshwater and saltwater creates crucial habitat for young salmon as they make the transition from river living to ocean swimming.“We’ve got all five species of salmon going into the Fraser. It’s Canada’s most productive salmon system — our largest Chinook producer — and it’s really important for the rearing and the migrations of adult and juvenile salmon.”This region has long been subject to development, from canneries and agriculture, to airports and port infrastructure. But now the pressure is ramping up. 

The pipeline pivot to Roberts Bank

On July 2, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced federal support for $10 billion in infrastructure upgrades at the Roberts Bank superport as part of a memorandum of understanding with B.C. 

In the agreement, the federal government also pledged to preserve the ban on oil tankers transiting the waters near B.C.’s North Coast. Keeping the tanker ban in place “without alteration, suspension or narrowing of scope,” as the agreement states, removed the port at Prince Rupert as an option for the terminus of Alberta’s proposed pipeline. Prince Rupert is Canada’s deepest natural harbour, capable of accommodating very large crude carriers (VLCCs), huge tanker ships capable of carrying up to 2.2 million barrels of oil — three times as much as the largest oil tankers currently servicing the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Later the same day, Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced plans for a new West Coast pipeline (funded primarily by state-owned pipeline company Trans Mountain), which would follow the same route as the current Trans Mountain pipeline with one key difference: it would detour further south to end at Roberts Bank, instead of in Burnaby. 

Alberta’s submission to the federal Major Projects Office includes a two-berth terminal able to serve very large crude carriers. These ships are 330 metres long — that’s more than three World Cup soccer pitches laid end to end — and have a fully loaded draft of 20 metres. To reach water deep enough for these massive vessels to float in, the terminal’s causeway and jetty would extend about five kilometres out into the Strait of Georgia.

If the project goes ahead, it would be the first time that oil tankers of this size have ever docked in B.C. The largest tankers that can fit beneath the Second Narrows bridge to service Westridge Marine Terminal — the current terminus of the Trans Mountain pipeline — are Aframax tankers, which have a maximum capacity of 800,000 barrels of oil. Currently, even those tankers can only be filled to about 80 per cent, so the port authority has applied to dredge Burrard Inlet to make room for larger loads (a plan the Tsleil–Waututh Nation is fighting). 

On land, the proposed oil terminal would take up 260 hectares — nearly two-thirds the size of Stanley Park. About half of that space would be covered with 15 storage tanks capable of holding 6.5 million barrels.Roberts Bank’s location — hemmed by wetlands, Tsawwassen First Nation treaty lands, parcels in the Agricultural Land Reserve and residential neighbourhoods — raises questions about whether there is enough room for Alberta’s proposal. The Major Projects Office did not respond when asked whether any assessments about fitting the proposed tanker terminal in that location have been completed.A question about whether the oil tanker terminal could be built in conjunction with the proposed port expansion or would have to wait until Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is complete also went unanswered.

The Fraser River estuary has lost 85 per cent of its salmon habitat to the effects of development and there are already plans to double the size of the terminal.

MacDuffee described the estuary as an “incredible natural asset” that has economic and environmental value.

“It supports these vibrant ecosystems that people are travelling from all over the world to visit, to see the Salish Sea, to see whales, to see birds, to see these migrations, to see these special places and here we are moving to take this incredible asset and turn it into an industrial sacrifice zone.”

Tanker terminal piles risk on top of risk

Roberts Bank Terminal 2, as the $3.5-billion planned port expansion is known, would increase the port’s container capacity by 50 per cent. The 2020 federal assessment of Roberts Bank Terminal 2 concluded the expansion’s impact on wetland function, Chinook and chum salmon and southern resident killer whales “is high in magnitude, permanent and irreversible.” In 2023, the federal cabinet concluded the public interest in the port expansion superseded those impacts and approved the project, subject to nearly 400 conditions.

In 2025, the Vancouver Port Authority submitted Roberts Bank Terminal 2 to the Major Projects Office, hoping to see it designated a “nation-building project” and fast-tracked for final approvals. That designation would mean streamlined regulatory processes and assessments.

Alberta’s proposal will also be evaluated by the Major Projects Office. The office did not respond to a question about whether the tanker terminal will be assessed to determine the potential cumulative effects of the project on the Fraser River estuary and Salish Sea.

The proposal to add another terminal and introduce oil supertankers to the Fraser estuary is raising concerns amongst B.C. environmentalists.

“This is supercharging the impact in case of an accident,” Anna Barford, Stand.earth’s oceans campaigner, said. “If we have a spill, if there is a critical problem, if one of these ships loses power and runs aground, we’re looking at incredible devastation in an area that is wildly biodiverse … at the mouth of a very important salmon-bearing river.”

The logistics of bringing such large vessels into the crowded waters of the Salish Sea is also a concern, Barford added.For MacDuffee, the tanker terminal proposal flies in the face of the federal government’s acknowledgement of the Fraser estuary’s importance. With more than $2 million in federal funds, Raincoast has been working to restore salmon habitat degraded by marine infrastructure.

“We’re allowing the flow of water — of nutrients, of sediment, of fish, of everything — back onto Sturgeon Bank, trying to restore the function of this estuary and the opportunity for rearing salmon,” MacDuffee told The Narwhal.

Port expansion poses significant risk to endangered species and critical habitat

Even without adding an oil tanker terminal to the mix, Roberts Bank Terminal 2’s impact on endangered species could be catastrophic, Barford said. 

“We’re looking at increased underwater noise, which we know is very difficult for fish and for creatures like southern resident killer whales that use echolocation to find their food.” 

More than 100 species in the Fraser River estuary are at risk of local extinction by 2045, a 2022 study found. At-risk species include the southern resident orca, whose population was just 74 individuals as of last year’s census. 

Many migrating bird species, including the western sandpiper, could also be negatively impacted by the terminal expansion. During their annual migration from Peru to Alaska, western sandpipers stop in the Fraser estuary, where they fuel up on biofilm, communities of microorganisms that flourish on the estuary’s mudflats. Losing access to this crucial food source would be a significant blow to western sandpipers and the many other migratory bird species.

“Roberts Bank is critical habitat,” Barford said. “Just because it looks muddy … doesn’t mean that it isn’t a paradise for endangered and migratory species.”

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When Isabelle Groc emailed us to say she had a massive batch of bird photos, we knew we wanted to publish them. Isabelle spent a lot of time at the site of Roberts Bank Terminal 2, a massive cargo port expansion planned near Vancouver. The area is home to a very important intertidal estuary — a place migratory birds, including the tiny western sandpiper, depend on. Her photos, alongside reporting by Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood, are stunning and are nominated for best photo storytelling at the Digital Publishing Awards.— Lindsay Sample, B.C. bureau chiefA proposed expansion at Canada’s busiest port could be fast-tracked by the federal government. The impact could be felt by many species, including a tiny but mighty bird and its source of superfood that’s uniquely plentiful in the Fraser estuary of Metro Vancouver. 

Microscopic organisms make up the food — called biofilm — which supports the round, fluffy western sandpiper. Biofilm provides the little shorebird fuel as it makes an epic journey between Peru and Alaska. Thousands of western sandpipers fly in artistic murmurations and gently poke their pointy beaks into the mud, scooping up biofilm with hairy tongues. Biofilm is part of the foundation of the food chain that also supports crabs and fish, bears and whales. 

But Roberts Bank Terminal 2, the expansion at Canada’s biggest container terminal Deltaport, is on the path to double in size. The goal is to bring in larger cargo ships and even more imported items from overseas — a development many scientists conclude will weaken the Fraser estuary’s ability to be a refuge for wildlife.

The 2020 federal assessment of the project concluded the expansion’s impact on wetland function, Chinook and chum salmon and southern resident killer whales “is high in magnitude, permanent and irreversible.” The review panel concluded it could not say with certainty how the expansion may disrupt biofilm and western sandpipers since it’s a new area of research — but acknowledged there is no known way to recreate the habitat. Biofilm, a naturally occurring phenomenon, has not been successfully re-engineered by humans in all its natural complexity.

The provincial assessment also concluded the expansion would have negative effects, and federal and provincial environment ministers agreed with the conclusions. But Canada approved the project anyway in 2023 — arguing it is in the “national interest” — subject to 370 environmental conditions. B.C. ministers cited environmental concerns, but said the province does not have jurisdictional power to stop the project.

Now, in the face of escalating trade tensions with the United States, both British Columbia and Canada are looking to expedite major industrial projects, raising concerns from environmental organizations and First Nations that environmental considerations may be pushed to the wayside. Roberts Bank Terminal 2 was on a draft list of 32 projects to potentially fast-track under the Building Canada Act, according to an internal government document obtained by the Globe and Mail.

‘The science is being ignored’

Biofilm is made up of diatoms — microscopic organisms a fraction of a hair’s width wide. It’s a widespread phenomenon, but at the Fraser estuary, the biofilm is very “activated” and “rich” compared to nearby estuaries, Elner explained.

Bob Elner, scientist emeritus with Environment and Climate Change Canada and adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, said evidence suggests this unique richness is due to the spring influx of fresh water from the Fraser River into the salt water, which causes a “shock” in the tiny diatoms, causing them to be highly active and pulse out rich omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients.

Elner said Roberts Bank “is the largest old unaltered, intertidal estuary” in the province; equivalent banks have been impacted by development. He closely studies western sandpipers, but said they aren’t the only creatures that may decline as a result of changing the biofilm. 

“Really, it’s much bigger than that, because those same fatty acids [in the biofilm] are responsible for the eulachan fishery, salmon fisheries and it goes up to orcas and marine mammals. It’s really that transfer of fat — these fatty acids — through the system,” he explained.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, the federal agency that pitched the project, touts the economic payoff of expanding the cargo terminal and argues more cargo capacity is needed. But Elner emphasized the estuary is a “high-value” system that could be “fundamentally, ecologically destroyed.”

“This isn’t that ports are bad,” he said. “Biofilm is really valuable, and we’ve got options in terms of how we get containers from wherever back to wherever, so trade doesn’t trump the environment.”

“I believe in science,” he added. “The science has been ignored.”

Between Peru and Alaska, every western sandpiper will likely stop in the Fraser estuary

Deltaport connects the West Coast to the world of international trade. Clothing, electronics and manufacturing parts are packed in the thousands of cargo containers that pass through the port every day — more than all five other ports in Canada combined.

Roberts Bank is a significant stop on the Pacific Flyway shorebird migration route. It’s widely assumed every western sandpiper will stop at Roberts Bank at least once in its lifetime, Elner said, between breeding in Alaska and wintering down south.

You can go down to Roberts Bank and watch the birds roll in and out with the tide as they go north in spring and south in late summer. “It’s quite magnificent to see them flying in these huge flocks,” he said.

Western sandpipers’ next major stop in their spring migration is in the Stikine estuary, about 1,000 kilometres northwest. The tiny birds are far less likely to survive the journey without the bountiful biofilm at Roberts Bank, Elner explained.

“Every year, less and less birds will make it to the Arctic. There will be less numbers successfully breeding. We can interpret that in a fairly short number of generations, we’ll be looking at a species that’s a vestige of what it once was,” he explained.

“The risk this will occur is very, very high, and the outcome is very predictable — species-wide impact, but also impacts at the fisheries level.”

Shorebirds are one of the “fastest declining groups” of birds in the world, he added. “Much of it, in my professional opinion, is tied to the removal of these sources of active biofilm.”

The Fraser River estuary has already lost 85 per cent of its salmon habitat, and the proposed project would deplete an additional 177 hectares. A 2022 study found 102 species in the Fraser estuary are at risk of local extinction between now and 2045.

Federally mandated biofilm research at Roberts Bank must remain rigorous if project fast-tracked: scientist

The federal conditions include convening an arm’s-length panel of scientists to oversee research and monitoring of biofilm and shorebirds up until construction begins. If it’s determined the ecosystem is being compromised, the port could be required to remove the structure, redesign it or mitigate it. 

Elner believes it’s a “credible” process that could effectively identify risk and require a dramatic correction to reduce that risk. But as Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is on a preliminary list of candidates to be fast-tracked, Elner emphasized environmental processes need to remain rigorous.

The Port of Vancouver sees $275 billion of trade pass through every year, exporting goods like pulp, lumber, coal and crops. The port includes other sectors, like automobiles and bulk goods, but the expansion only affects the container terminal.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says its forecasts show more container capacity is needed, and the expansion meets the projected demand. The project would widen the rail causeway leading to the port and build an artificial island about the size of 330 football fields to house three new berths, increasing container capacity on the West Coast by about 30 per cent. It would increase the port’s container capacity by nearly 50 per cent, meaning it could handle an additional 2.4 million 20-foot shipping containers each year.

The port authority anticipates construction will begin in 2027 and the terminal will take about six years to build, becoming operational in the early- to mid-2030s. It projects the terminal will add $3 billion to the economy every year. The Narwhal asked the port authority whether the original $3.5-billion price tag to build the terminal has changed due to economic factors and inflation, but the port authority said that was confidential as it tries to procure a construction partner. 

Port authority says environmental conditions will be met, but independent scientists say they need more information about how

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority declined to be interviewed by The Narwhal and instead sent an emailed statement in response to questions. It said it is on track to meet the hundreds of environmental conditions from the federal and provincial government.

The total sandpiper population is estimated at 3.5 million birds, and it’s likely all of them will stop at Roberts Bank at some point. The port authority said “studies show even with the project in place, there will be sufficient biofilm to support one million sandpipers in a single day.” It did not provide specific studies in its statement or after The Narwhal asked for such evidence, but referred us to hundreds of pages of documents. In them, we could only find the port authority referencing its own models to make this prediction.

The port authority said it does not expect any impacts on sandpipers, but will “avoid, monitor and — if required — mitigate any potential effects.”  

But scientists have reaffirmed multiple times they cannot confidently conclude negative effects will not impact biofilm or migratory shorebirds. In 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada said the project “will likely be unmitigable and irreversible,” leading to higher risk to the “viability” of western sandpipers and have “major” effects on the quality of biofilm.

The port authority has often said the federal review panel found the project would not result in adverse effects on biofilm in its 2019 report. But in 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada called this an “incomplete” description by the port authority, explaining there is “uncertainty” since science around biofilm is quite new, and emphasizing this means the review panel could not say the expansion would not have negative impacts either.

The independent scientific body that has been overseeing the port authority’s monitoring of biofilm and sandpipers — mandated as part of the 370 federal conditions to approve this project — underlined this uncertainty in its most recent report earlier this year. 

The group of independent scientists called for more details about how the port authority plans to execute its monitoring or analyze the data it collects. They outlined the challenge of using local data to make any assumptions about changes to the entire population, and said it’s unclear how the port authority will make this connection. It said “more precision” is needed in the plans or else they risk producing “erroneous” results.

The group of scientists wanted to see more evidence from the port showing its methods will produce reliable information. Specifically, they said the port may need to extend how long it monitors the birds. Right now, the port wants to monitor for three years after the proposed terminal is built, but the scientists pointed out that any decline would likely result from fewer birds reproducing year over year, so population decline may not be detectable until more than three years later.

The scientists pointed out some of the port’s proposed monitoring would only detect if there was a 50 per cent change in population or higher over two years, and any change under 50 per cent would not be detected. 

“Changes considerably smaller than 50 per cent may be biologically significant, especially if they occurred over such a short time interval,” the scientists pointed out.

Additionally, counting western sandpipers is difficult, and there’s potential for the port’s plans to result in incorrect counts, scientists added, which may under- or over-estimate the impacts on birds. 

The port authority told The Narwhal the western sandpiper population is trending upwards, and only 17 per cent relies on Roberts Bank during spring migration. The Narwhal found other scientific sources that suggest western sandpipers could be declining, and up to 64 per cent of the population relies on Roberts Bank.

The expansion was originally estimated to cost $3.5 billion. The Narwhal asked if there is an updated figure, due to inflation and other economic factors, but the port authority said the cost estimate is “confidential” as it tries to procure a construction team.

The port authority has signed 27 mutual benefits agreements with the 28 Indigenous governments it is seeking agreements with.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the launch of the Major Projects Office in August, with the goal to “fast-track nation-building projects by streamlining regulatory assessment and approvals and helping to structure financing.”

The office said it will help the proponents finish the final regulatory steps and information will be shared online the same as it typically is, and no research or monitoring timelines have been condensed. Fast-tracking will come from “upfront certainty regarding approvals” and some processes happening simultaneously rather than sequentially, it added.

“While we are moving forward on projects that will build Canada … we are equally committed to upholding Canada’s environmental protections.”

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