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| An ant-quarry protest called Foodstock drew nearly 30,000 people in October (Photo: Jason van Bruggen) |
Melancthon mega-quarry
Water concerns and environmental risk assessments impede plans for a mega-quarry near the GTA
By Ruth VanDyken
Ontario’s densely populated Greater
Golden Horseshoe, which hugs the
western tip of Lake Ontario from the
Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to Niagara
and stretches all the way to Georgian Bay
and Peterborough, has less than four
percent of the province’s land mass but
is home to nearly a quarter of all
Canadians. The region is one of the
country’s biggest economic engines, with
industries such as auto and steel manufacturing
as well as Toronto’s diverse
economy pushing urban development
across agricultural and natural land.
Such sprawl is often controversial. But
the need for raw materials — specifically,
the gravel required for road and building
construction — is creating another clash
between man and nature.
At the centre of this conflict is a proposed
mega-quarry in the Township of
Melancthon, a farming area known for
its potatoes about 75 kilometres northwest
of Toronto. Five kilometres across
and, at an average depth of 57 metres,
deeper than the Horseshoe Falls at
Niagara, the quarry would be the largest
in Canada and the second largest in
North America. The project is led by The
Highland Companies, a Nova Scotia-registered
landholder and large-scale potato
grower backed by a Boston hedge fund
called the Baupost Group. If Highland
receives regulatory approval, workers
will blast into subsurface limestone to
produce a billion tonnes of aggregate
over the quarry’s decades-long lifespan.
Based on the research Highland has
commissioned, the quarry “simply can’t
have a negative environmental impact,”
says company spokesperson Lindsay
Broadhead. But officials and residents in
Melancthon and neighbouring townships
remain concerned. With the facility
operating 365 days a year, 24 hours a day,
and blasting under way six days a week to
fill the estimated 150 trucks coming and
going every hour, locals say it will be an
assault on the ears and eyes. Moreover, at 937 hectares, the quarry will cover
about 15 percent of the area’s prime
agricultural land and could disrupt the
headwaters of five major rivers, including
the Nottawasaga and the Grand.
The need for increased aggregate production
in Ontario is undeniable. The
provincial government released a report
last year concluding that “over two-thirds
of the licensed reserves supplying the
GTA are being rapidly depleted.” Existing
operations cannot meet the growing
demand for gravel, and mega-quarries are
“the most feasible alternative sources of
aggregate.” Highland says the Melancthon
site is ideal, considering its proximity to
the Golden Horseshoe (a major consumer)
and its position outside the environmentally
sensitive Niagara Escarpment.
When Highland began to buy up
Melancthon farms in 2006, residents
thought the company was planning to
expand its potato operations, which
already produce more than 45 million
kilograms of spuds in Ontario every year.
Talk of a 121-hectare quarry began in
2009, says township mayor Bill Hill.
In March, Highland filed an application
to the Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources (MNR) for a mega-quarry
almost eight times larger than early plans,
which has prompted more than 5,000
letters of concern.
Water tops the list of worries.
Melancthon is called the Roof of Ontario
— its waters flow away from the region
in virtually every direction. If the quarry
proceeds, Highland will eventually have
to pump 600 million litres of water out
of the site every day. Broadhead says that
Highland has extensively researched
underground water routes and that water removed from the quarry will be pumped
back into the water table, a practice that’s
already in use at another quarry in nearby
Milton. This, she says, will maintain the
quality and volume of underground water.
But underground waterways are tough
to chart, with subterranean rivers, caverns
and possibly even lakes flowing into one
another, say residents such as Carl
Cosack, a cattle-rancher-turned-critic
with the North Dufferin Agricultural and
Community Taskforce. The quarry will
be “sitting on the control switch” of rivers
that flow into the GTA and supply water
to millions of people, he says. “This is
not a risk anybody ought to take.”
John Werring, an aquatic-habitat
specialist with the David Suzuki
Foundation, is more concerned about
the quarry’s potential to harm aquatic
life. It may deplete ponds and streams
and could destroy or disrupt the habitats
of fish and other species.
In September, the MNR and Ontario’s
Ministry of the Environment took the
unprecedented step of calling for an environmental
assessment of Highland’s application.
Quarries are typically subject to
less stringent review under the province’s
Aggregate Resources Act. It’s unclear how
long the assessment process will take and
whether Highland will get the green light,
but one thing is certain: the GTA’s annual
demand for aggregate is about 55 million
tonnes. Until we devise new ways to build,
all that gravel will have to come from
somewhere, which may push the megaquarry
to another community’s backyard.
December 2011 issue
