Mega quarry is stopped, but at what cost?

Local residents, environmentalists and urbanites united for years around the rallying cry to “Stop the Mega Quarry” planned for fertile farmlands of Melancthon, Ont., have gotten their wish, but at what cost?

With demand for building materials in the GTA set to rise in the coming years, some of those on the front lines of Ontario’s construction industry say that decision by Boston-based Highland Companies to abandon the massive limestone quarry proposal could have significant economic implications.

Moreen Miller, CEO of the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, described the announcement as a “setback for all of us as Ontarians.”

“The project would have created hundreds of jobs and helped meet the overwhelming need for natural resources for infrastructure development,” she said. “There’s been lots of discussion in the GTA about our aging infrastructure and this material is needed in order to make our cities safe and sustainable.”

The problem, she said, is one of supply and demand.

Ontario is a major consumer of aggregates, with construction projects like roads, buildings and houses in the GTA alone sucking up 60 million tons per year of the rock, sand and gravel derived from deposits like the one buried beneath the soil in Melancthon. As the reserves of high-quality aggregates shrink, that volume is set to increase by 13 per cent over the next 20 years, according to a 2010 government and consultancy report.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is currently the province’s biggest consumer of this non-renewable resource.

Miller said Wednesday’s decision will drive up costs, as 60 per cent of what consumers currently pay for aggregates comes from transportation costs.

“We’re going to move material from further away … and the price of construction development will rise,” she said.

Ken Lucyshyn, vice-president of Walker Aggregates, a family-run company based in the Niagara region, said the decision of Highland, a billion-dollar hedge fund, to pull out of the process makes him concerned about his ability to secure new sites in the future.

“We spend millions of dollars on an application and there’s no guarantee you’re going to get it. When we start to worry about the risk reward … a small producer, how does he afford that?” he said.

Walker Aggregates, which operates 12 sites across southern Ontario, has outstanding applications to expand three of those sites. Despite getting the go-ahead from the Ontario Municipal Board, one of those applications is being challenged by the Niagara Escarpment Commission.

But according to Faisal Moola of the David Suzuki Foundation, there is also value in preserving the prime agricultural land in the region, which has been depleted in recent years.

As he points out, the farms located near the 937-hectare quarry that was proposed for Melancthon supply 40 per cent of the potatoes consumed in the GTA.

“The question is not whether or not we mine for aggregate, it’s where we mine for aggregate,” he said. “We need to have rules and regulations in place that make it very difficult to develop aggregate mines on precious, prime agricultural lands and rare and threatened ecosystems.”

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Rachel Mendleson