Mega Quarry

Stop the Mega Quarry in Melancthon Township, Dufferin County

The county continues it’s struggle to preserve prime agricultural land for agriculture: Newsletter 2014 03

Melancthon residents – the mayor, farmers, residents -share their opinions on the proposed mega quarry that threatens the area’s agricultural industry.

Highland sells land to Bonneville Financial, A Farmland Investment and Management Firm. This wonderful farmland will continue to grow food. Now we need to change the law to make food and water first.

NDACT runs Food and Water First Campaign. Support it with your letters. 2013 02 28

We Won!

Highland Companies Withdraws Its Application for a Quarry in Melancthon Township

MELANCTHON TOWNSHIP, November 21, 2012 — The Highland Companies (Highland) announced today that it is withdrawing its application to develop a quarry in Melancthon Township. Highland also intends to discontinue its efforts to restore the rail corridor through Dufferin County. In addition, Highland announced that John Lowndes has resigned from his role as President and has no further involvement with the company.

“While we believe that the quarry would have brought significant economic benefit to Melancthon Township and served Ontario’s well-documented need for aggregate, we acknowledge that the application does not have sufficient support from the community and government to justify proceeding with the approval process,” said John Scherer of The Highland Companies.

Highland will continue to focus on its farms and on supplying its customers with high quality potatoes and other crops. The company is proud of the improvements it has made through modernizing equipment and storage facilities as well as enhancing food and worker safety.

For information, please contact:

Media:
Lindsay Broadhead
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Lindsay.broadhead@hkstrategies.ca
416-413-4693

Latest News and Calendar of Events to Stop the QuarryNDACT Call to Action by March 29, 2012

The Highland Companies, funded by the Baupost Hedge Fund, are proposing to build a 2300 acre limestone quarry, North of Shelburne on prime agricultural land. It would be the second largest quarry in North America. They will “industrialize” the landscape in this large area, right next to the Niagara Escarpment, a World Heritage site. We anticipate that as a result of this large project, we will see the following effects:

  • Severe damage to the Pine river including destruction of fish habitat
  • Major distruption to the quality of life of the people of Dufferin County because of major increases in road traffic by large trucks in highly populated areas.
  • Potential major pollution of the Amabel-Lockport-Guelph aquifer that forms the headwaters of five major river systems and supplies drinking water to over a million people and many other species including fox, coyote, wolf, beaver, lynx, rabbit, deer, ducks, geese, turkey, pike, pickerel, trout, salmon, turtles, salamanders, snakes, and many others who thrive & rely upon these rivers.

Click here for a comprehensive article and video telling both sides of the story by the Toronto Star

The project is close to our beloved Unicamp. We anticipate it may endanger the water supply to wells, springs (Unicamp is spring fed), and generally effect the ground water in the area.

CUSJ wrote letters in August 2011 to both the Federal and Provincial Governments asking them to hold full environmental assessments in their areas of jurisdiction:

CUSJ Request for a Provincial Review

CUSJ Request for a Federal Review

Other Sources of Information and Action

NDACT (North Dufferin Agriculture and Community Task Force) the hub of the opposition to the proposed Melancthon mega quarry.

Council of Canadians – explains industrial process in relation to the underground water aquifer and why the water system is endangered.

Council of Canadians – Next steps against the Melancthon mega-quarry

David Suzuki Foundation – explains the potential dammage to fish habitat on the pine river

Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NCVA) 2007 update on the environmental condition of the Pine River and steps that can be taken to improve conditions for fish.

Wellington Water Watchers — Earth Day Action April 2011

AVAAZ – Petition against the Quarry

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS SOUGHT: The Orangeville Citizen reports, “The North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce is calling for the public to seek a provincial environmental assessment by registering their Environmental Bill of Rights requests before July 11. Under the Aggregate Resources Act, such an EA is not required in Ontario. (Additionally, Conservative) MP David Tilson has called for (a) federal (environmental assessment) on the basis, among other things, that fisheries might be affected by the proposed quarry.”

What Can I do? Hard copy, original letters are most effective.

Write your MP, the PM, and The Hon. Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment. (Copy opposition leaders)

House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Write your MPP, the Premier, and The Hon. John Wilkinson, Minister of the Environment for Ontario. (Copy opposition leaders.)

Legislative Bldg., Queen’s Park, Toronto M7A 1A1

Make this a provincial election issue!

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