Fast-tracking an oil pipeline to the Fraser River Estuary gambles with salmon and killer whales

Raincoast Conservation Foundation responds to the federal designation of the West Coast Oil Pipeline as a Project of National Interest.

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 1, 2026 /CNW/ -- Today the Government of Canada designated the West Coast Oil Pipeline a Project of National Interest under the Building Canada Act. The pipeline would carry up to one million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta to a new deepwater port on Roberts Bank, in the Fraser River Estuary.

Contrary to the Prime Minister's assurances, this is truly the worst location for a project of this scale, risk, and consequence.

The Fraser River estuary is among the most productive and biodiverse estuaries on the Pacific Coast. It has a Ramsar accredited wetland of international importance, it is the rearing grounds for Canada's largest salmon runs, and it boasts the highest concentrations of migratory birds in Canada – with up to 1.4 million birds using it at peak season. The estuary's flats, marshes and eelgrass beds are considered so sensitive to oil that a 40 year federal ban restricts fueling and shipping of any bulk liquids to delta port.

The terminal would then load oil onto VLCC tankers for transit through the Salish Sea, placing both the facility and tanker traffic into the feeding grounds of endangered killer whales.

The PONI designation has been made despite the absence of a site plan identifying key infrastructure, access, construction areas and safety zones, as well as a vessel movement schedule and details of the crude products to be handled. The Fraser River estuary has previously been rejected as a terminal location due to its geophysical instability, the global significance of its habitats, and its vulnerability in an earthquake zone.

Ottawa has already approved a shipping terminal expansion at Roberts Bank. The approval was despite the federal review panel concluding the underwater noise from its ships would cause "significant adverse cumulative effects", increasing the extinction risk for Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW). This project would add to the burden of harm to salmon and their habitat, shipstrikes and underwater noise.

The $1.2-billion ocean protection package announced September 29 does little to reduce the suite of threats facing this endangered population. Monitoring and spill readiness can help Canada respond to accidents and more harm, but they do not prevent more underwater noise, the destruction of salmon rearing habitat, and increased spill risk in habitat that is already under stress.

Quotes

The estuary

"Eighty-five per cent of the Fraser's historical floodplain is already inaccessible to juvenile salmon. We cannot keep sacrificing the habitat that remains. This site was rejected for the TMX pipeline because of geophysical risk, its earthquake vulnerability, and the global significance of its habitat. No political designation can make this estuary a safe place for an oil terminal." – Misty MacDuffee, Director, Wild Salmon Program

Southern Resident killer whales

"With only 76 endangered killer whales remaining, an oil terminal and tanker route through their critical habitat would compound noise, Chinook losses, ship-strike danger and spill risk. A PONI designation cannot override the Species at Risk Act's requirement that projects not jeopardize the survival or recovery of endangered wildlife." – Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, Senior Science Advisor, Cetacean Conservation Research Program

Noise

"Ottawa aims to hold ocean noise at 2023 levels--a baseline already too loud for Southern Resident killer whales. In Boundary Pass, time free of vessel noise fell from roughly a third in 2017 to just 15 per cent in 2023. That vessel noise could reduce the whales' communication space by more than 80 per cent. A new oil terminal and its tankers would bring more noise where quiet time is already scarce." – Dr. Valeria Vergara, Senior Scientist and Director, Cetacean Conservation Research Program

Oil spills

"A single Very Large Crude Carrier at Roberts Bank holds up to eight times the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez. The proposed WCOP will carry 94 to 100 per cent diluted bitumen, which becomes sticky and heavy, leading it to sink below the reach of surface cleanup tools. Historically, oil spill responses only recover 10 to 15 per cent of spilled oil at best. This proposal is an accident waiting to happen." – Dr. Peter Ross, Director, Healthy Waters Program

What Raincoast is asking

• A complete project description and independent assessments before any further approvals, including geophysical and earthquake risk.
• No exemption from the Species at Risk Act's jeopardy test (section 73).
• Credible worst-case spill scenarios for the terminal and the marine route.

Read Raincoast's full submission (PDF) and summary of 11 recommendations. Read our Salish Sea fact sheets.

SOURCE Raincoast Conservation Foundation

Press contacts: Misty MacDuffee, Director, Wild Salmon Program, [email protected]; Dr. Peter Ross, Director, Healthy Waters Program, [email protected]; Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, Senior Advisor, [email protected]; Dr. Valeria Vergara, Director, Cetacean Conservation Research Program, [email protected]