Vancouver: In July 2015, West Coast Reduction was charged by Environment and Climate Change Canada for leaking oil into water frequented by fish, thereby violating the Fisheries Act and Migratory Birds Convention Act 1994. The company subsequently pleaded guilty. The incident happened in November 2013, when the factory was loading canola oil onto the vessel Bum Shin, and a pipeline that wasn’t adequately tightened began leaking oil. The investigation also revealed procedures that would have led to the discovery of the leak sooner were not followed.¹

In March 2010, East Vancouver residents complained of foul odors coming from a plant owned by West Coast Reduction. They made a request to the B.C. Environmental Appeal Board to impose stricter odor limits on the plant.² West Coast Reduction appealed amendments to their odor limits. Residents similarly appealed, asking for stricter limits. The Board ultimately sided with West Coast Reduction and dismissed the appeals of the residents.³

In May 2021, West Coast Reduction announced they were renewing the company’s Metro Vancouver air quality permit. The company also said that they intended to apply for amendments to “increase the allowable hours, and consequent authorized emissions, of operation of our odor control air scrubbers and thermal oxidizers.”⁴ Nearby residents expressed concerns and local news coverage described the “eye-watering stench” as “rancid, fishy, bloody, sour, and chemical,” produced by the plant, and objected to the issuance of a renewed permit.⁵ In the lead up to the decision, a petition advocating for a rejection of the renewal gathered over 780 signatures, citing concern about further pollution in a rapidly densifying neighbourhood.⁶ Though a five-year permit renewal was later issued by Metro Vancouver, locals suggested that they would continue to oppose the continued operation of the plant.⁷

Nitrogen oxides account for over half of the gases released by the plant, 24 tons being emitted in 2023 alone, according to a facility report in Canada’s national pollutant release inventory.⁸ These gases can have “adverse effects on respiratory systems of humans and animals,” cause damage to vegetation, and contribute to the acidification of aquatic ecosystems, according to a report by the government of Canada.⁹ “They have to do something about the bad smell in the whole neighborhood,” wrote a commenter on this site in Google Maps in August 2024.¹⁰

West Coast Reduction is one of a small number of industrial facilities on Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet that have been authorized to release wastewater into the inlet. Collectively, this can release up to 629 kilograms of oil and grease into the inlet every day, according to a 2024 report in The Narwhal.¹¹ This was inconsistent with water quality objectives laid out jointly by the Provincial Government of British Columbia and Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, who have resided in the vicinity for millennia, according to Anuradha Rao, a senior marine ecosystems specialist.¹²

West Coast Reduction did not respond to a request for comment.¹³