PHOTO: Westshore Terminals is Canada’s largest exporter of coal – and is the most active single export coal terminal in all of North America. It is located at Roberts Bank in Delta, BC.
The mining of coal kills people and damages land, water, and the climate. More than 250,000 Chinese coal miners have died in mining accidents in China since 1949. Since 2009, China has been importing coal – to make steel and produce electricity – and is seeking new supplies. One major source of coal for China is British Columbia, which has 10 active coal mines and another 20 in development. To speed this up, the Christy Clark government has committed $24-million to reduce ‘regulatory delays’ for new mines.
The Westshore Terminals in Delta loaded 27.3-million tonnes of coal onto 277 ships last year. Coal produced by the proposed Raven coal mine would be exported through Port Alberni.
This issue has also been in the news because Vancouver-based Dehua International Mines Group and its Chinese investment partners have proposed the Murray River underground coal mine on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in BC and want to bring over about 2,000 miners from China to work at the mine. Toronto Star columnist Thomas Walkom has written that these workers are in the company’s business plan because as temporary migrants dependent on work visas they are not in a position to complain or join a union and they serve the agenda of driving wages down for other workers.
The Canada-China Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement is also prompting concerns about investor rights that will get locked-in to the detriment of rights and the environment.
We must stand for fairness for workers (everywhere), in support of renewable energy, and in defence of the land, water and climate from the harmful extraction of coal.
Today’s Globe and Mail article is at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/labour-dispute-reveals-chinas-rush-to-tap-bc-coal-boom/article5179848/. Walkom’s editorial in the Toronto Star is at http://canadians.org/blog/?p=17194.
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