Federal Environmental Determination moves Vopak Ridley Island Terminal plans further along towards potential development

The VOPAK Pacific Canada offices in downtown Prince Rupert may soon
seem some increased activity, that after the global terminal operator received
a Notice of Determination towards its Ridley Island terminal plans

The prospects for the next industrial project for the North Coast moving forward would seem fairly good today; that following  the release of details of a review by Environment and Climate Change Canada towards the proposed Vopak Bulk Liquids Shipment terminal for Ridley Island.

Vopak Pacific Canada which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Vopak has been investigating the opportunity to construct, own and operate a bulk liquids storage facility in Prince Rupert.

The Project is expected to store Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Clean Petroleum Products (CPP) (i.e. diesel and/or gasoline) and methanol. All products will be transported from BC and Alberta to the Project via the existing Canadian National Railway line. 

Customers of Vopak will be responsible for bringing the product to site and for shipping the product from the jetty to markets around the world. 

The Project will include the construction, operation and decommissioning of the bulk liquids storage facility, including a jetty. 

Vopak will build the Project and manage the day-to-day operations of the facility. 

The facility will operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

The timeline towards the proposed development is already a year behind from its original schedule, which had expected the two year construction period to start in late 2021.

The background overview of the proposal can be reviewed here.

Artists rendition of proposed Vopak terminal at Ridley Island

In a Notice of Determination that was added to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada website this week, the Federal environmental agency noted that the proposed project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

The documentation associated to the Notice of Determination provides a look at the comprehensive level of environmental review work that has gone into the project to date.

The Summary of mitigation measures outlines both potential effects and the proposed mitigation that VOPAK would take towards those elements.

The Management Plans provide a look at how the Global terminal operator would address the construction, Operational and Decommissioning phases of the Terminal.

Vopak has also added the following mitigations that Federal Authorities had considered as part of the review:

The documentation of this week also notes that Vopak still has an obligation to comply to other legal requirements from Federal, Provincial or local governments.

The mitigations presented in this list do not relieve the Proponent from any obligation to comply with other legislative or other legal requirements of the federal, provincial, or local governments. Nothing in this document shall be construed as affecting what may be required of the Proponent to comply with all applicable legislative or legal requirements.

The full registry of documents towards the proposed project at the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada can be reviewed here.

Earlier this year, the Provincial government had issued an environmental assessment certificate for the proposed facility.

The proposed site for the terminal is on Ridley Island adjacent to the location of the Ridley Island Export Terminal and Trigon facility. 

Vopak along with AltaGas operates the RIPET Export Terminal at the Ridley Industrial location.

So far, the Vopak Canada Pacific website  has not outlined any details related to the Notice of Determination, or how it may impact on their plans towards any Final  Investment decision on any plans to proceed with development.

Update: there is now an update on the recent Federal announcement which you can review here.

Those notes will likely come in the weeks ahead as the Dutch terminal operator and local port officials review the Federal Notice of Determination and chart the path ahead.

You can review some of the past notes related to the proposed terminal from our archive page here.