Quarry walk raises awareness

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

Potato farmer Dave Vander Zaag took part in a walk to raise awareness about a massive open-pit quarry project that may be located near his farm because he doesn’t think the proposal is good land use planning.

Vander Zaag, whose farm is across from the proposed limestone quarry slated to go on a site of just under 3,000 acres on Highway 124 near Shelburne in Melancthon Township, says he walked part of the route. The walk began at Queen’s Park April 22, and concluded at the farm of Jim Black, also located near the site, Tuesday afternoon. Vander Zaag was also at the rally.

“We just worried we’re going to lose our water table,” he says.

The walk has raised a lot of awareness, he says, noting many people haven’t heard of the proposal by Highland Companies to build the quarry. The company is backed by a Boston-based hedge fund. Vander Zaag says the quarry is proposed to be a four-mile square hole that’s going to be 220 feet deep.

Critics say it will destroy prime farmland in Ontario’s potato-growing region and affect the water supply. They’re also concerned about increased truck traffic in the area, limestone dust in the air and unexploded blasting material dissolving and seeping into the water.

A company official said in a statement Highland plans to rehabilitate excavated sections to agriculture and associated uses. The company also plans to do the excavation in sections over many years rather than all at once over the entire project area.

But Vander Zaag says,  “three and a half per cent of Ontario’s land is agricultural land. Why put a quarry on the best of that agricultural land?”

With a provincial election slated for this fall the quarry proposal is becoming an election issue, he adds.

Brian Danniels, walk co-organizer, says more than 300 people turned out for the rally at Queen’s Park that featured First Nation’s ceremonies. From there, participants walked 119 kilometres to Black’s farm. Farmers, people from across Ontario and First Nation’s people all participated. The number of walkers varied from day to day with an average of 20 to 40 people.

Danniels says the walk was a huge success and helped to raise awareness about the proposal. “The next actions will be to keep an eye on what’s going on.”

In addition, “we’re prepared to, within peaceful means, do whatever’s necessary to see that this doesn’t go through,” he says.

The 45-day comment period on the proposal ended Tuesday. In Ontario’s Legislature on April 21, NDP leader Andrea Howarth asked Premier Dalton McGuinty if he’d extend the comment period. The Ministry of Natural Resources only allowed 45 days of public comment on the company’s 3,000-page proposal, she says in Hansard, the Legislature’s official transcript.

McGuinty turned the question over to Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffrey, who said legally she couldn’t extend the comment period. But she will consider any comments made outside the official time-period slated to receive submissions.

She encouraged anyone with concerns to become involved in the consultation process.

“I welcome their comments,” she says in Hansard.

Highland has applied for a license under the Aggregate Resources Act and as part of that process the company has two years to resolve any objections to its application, Jeffrey says. If there are still unresolved objections to the license application after two years, the natural resources ministry can refer the application to the Ontario Municipal Board. BF