Overview

Melancthon Mega Quarry

Proposed by The Highland Companies

*** Notice that the below information and information linked to this page or stored on this site has been gathered through private amateur research for the purpose of allowing the reader to make an informed and educated decision. However, while the information is believed to be reliable, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. ***

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BREAKING NEWS

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On Wednesday, November 21, 2012 Highland Companies announced that it was withdrawing the application for a quarry licence. (Press Release) Needless to say activists were delighted, although many had trepidations. After all, the limestone is still in the ground and legally unprotected from extraction.

We therefore resolved to continue working to secure Ontarians’ access to fresh food and clean water from the Melancthon area. This page will be updated once the strategy has become clear.

Until then, please do what you can to appreciate local food; drink your free clean water and consider what it will be like in the future and for the next generation. The decisions we make today, our children must live with tomorrow.

www.facebook.com/friends.of.ndact

For other Ontario issues, check-out: www.AWARE-Ontario.ca

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DRAFT The information below is pending update:

Location: Melancthon Township, Dufferin County, Ontario, Canada (map) -- 90 minutes north-west of Toronto on county road 124 on the way to Collingwood. Neighbouring communities are: Badjeros, Creemore, Honeywood, Hornings Mills, Maple Valley, Masonville, Redickville, Shelburne.

Introducing:

- 3191574 Nova Scotia Company Ltd aka The Highland Companies

- 1712665 Ontario Ltd. aka Downey Potato Farms

- 3218089 Nova Scotia Company Ltd (Highlands’ Rail Group?)

- Wilson Farms

All of the above generally referred to as The Highland Companies (www.highlandcompanies.ca)

BUSINESS LINES

According to their website*, The Highland Companies is the operating and investment vehicle for a group of private investors based in Canada and the United States. The company has three lines of business:

- Farming

- Aggregates (www.melancthonquarry.ca)

- Rail (The Highland Railway Group)

- with a note that they have explored the potential of renewable energy, including wind power [read industrial wind turbines and 6,000 available acres]

*Prior to Aug-2011. After August the website was updated to show only 2 business lines: farming & aggregates.

In 2011 Highland Companies hired the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton to help advance their businesses through government lobbying and media presentation.

Farming

In 2006 Highland started buying farmland in Melancthon, continuing farm operations and hiring back the farmers. Highland, backed by the Baupost Group, a Boston hedge fund, quietly and determinedly bought up land over the subsequent years and today they own around 8,000 of the 15,000 contiguous prime “class 1” agricultural acres. Some of the land is located north of Redickville. (Melancthon Land Assembly map) [There are at least 4 other aggregate companies with land holdings in the area waiting in the wings to see what happens.]

Today, Highland is the largest landowner, taxpayer, employer and private sector donor in the Township, providing about 20% of the property tax revenue and 24% of the jobs within Melancthon. Highland is the #1 potato producer in Ontario.

Aggregates

Around March 11, 2011, 3191574 Nova Scotia Company applied to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) for a Class "A" licence to remove more than 20,000 tonnes of aggregate¹ annually from a pit or a quarry (EBR #011-2864) under the Aggregate Resources Act.  At the same time the company applied to the Township of Melancthon for official plan and zoning by-law amendments.

This proposed quarry:

- will be the largest quarry in Canada and second largest in North America

- covers 2,316 acres consisting of 4 extraction areas and 1 central processing area

- will be 237 feet deep, below the water table

- is expected to manage 600 million litres of water per day in perpetuity (capacity of the Collingwood water tower is 2.3 million litres)

- is the headwaters for five major rivers (Grand, Beaver, Pine, Nottawasaga, Saugeen) that flow to Lake Erie, Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay

- expects to extract one billion tonnes of amabel dolostone (limestone)² with six billion tonnes in reserves

- expects to blast explosives 6 days per week (video)

- expects to run 7,200 truck trips in/out per day (2-3 trucks per minute)

- is adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment.

The potential benefits to the proposed quarry are the anticipated jobs and tax revenue. However, the net job count could be a loss with the impact on tourism, arts, and recreation (skiing, hiking, equestrian, culinary, etc.) as drivers/commuters will avoid the area with so many gravel trucks on the road. Also the impact on neighbouring farms is unknown.

For the Application click here (HC website). For an overview on the application process click here.

Rail

The Highland Companies has investigated purchasing the rail line/former rail line from Streetsville to Owen Sound. This rail business line is independent of Highland’s other business lines. In anticipation of revived rail traffic, Highland has purchased a land corridor to connect the proposed quarry to the anticipated rail line. Owen Sound is a port for national and international shipping. (More info)

AGGREGATE IN ONTARIO

Ontario published the State of Aggregate Resources in Ontario Study (SAROS) in February 2010. In effect the report says the ideal solution is a mega-quarry within 75km of Vaughan (Vaughan being the site with the greatest growth expectation). The Highland Companies has been working with the Ministry of Natural Resources to create this solution. It should be noted that Lafarge Manitoulin, one of Canada’s largest limestone quarries was excluded from the study and is only 2-3 hours north of the proposed mega-quarry site.

A mega-quarry is defined as having 150 million tonnes of reserves and an annual production capacity of at least 10 million tonnes.

The bedrock underlying the site is part of the Amabel Formation and can be found at other existing licensed quarry operations in Acton, Burlington, Duntroon and Milton.

In comparison to the mega-quarry, operations are:

Lafarge Manitoulin: 1,700 acres (ships to Quebec and the USA)

Dufferin Milton:  1,400 acres

Lafarge Dundas:  1,045 acres, 71.93 acres proposed

St. Marys Cement Bowmanville, 556 acres, manages 48.5 million litres of water per day (EBR 011-6319)

Walker Niagara Falls:  542 acres

Nelson Mount Nemo Burlington:  519 acres, expansion proposal rejected in 2012

St. Mary’s Flamborough: 164 acres proposed

MAQ Duntroon:  247 acres / 60 ft below water table / 1million tonnes annually – approved 24-Aug-2012

Walker Duntroon:  116 acres, 168 acres proposed

Blueland Farms Ltd McCormick Pit (Heart Lake Road): 111 acres proposed

Arbour Farms, Airport Road: 80 acres proposed

Osprey:  40 acres

According to Friends of Rural Communities and the Environment (FORCE), there are 2,800 quarries in Ontario. According to Canada’s Rock to Road Magazine the Manitoulin “operation is impacted by the fortunes of U.S. economy as a significant percentage of Manitoulin’s output is shipped to U.S. markets on the Great Lakes.” In other words, the “shortage” of aggregate in Ontario is debatable.

For information on the Quarry Approval Process click here.

For industry information, see these sources:

Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA)

Aggregate Forum Ontario

Ontario Road Builders Association

Socially and Environmentally Responsible Aggregate (SERA)

CONCLUSION

In researching this proposal we have learned that there are obvious issues in the way that Ontario manages aggregate. For instance:

- lack of use of alternative and recycled aggregate material (recycling)

- “close to market” aggregate policy (provincial policy statement)

- lack of requirement for aggregate companies to demonstrate "need" for products (provincial policy statement)

- lack of data (Lafarge Manitoulin being Ontario's largest limestone quarry was excluded from SAROS despite the fact that it ships out of province/country)

- strong aggregate lobby and close industry ties with the Ministry of Natural Resources

Do not take this 2,316 acre quarry lightly.  The environmental impacts of this proposed quarry are complex and far-reaching due to its scale.  Opponents are estimating that the drinking water of one million people in southern Ontario could be affected.  While the Aggregate Resources Act does not require an Environmental Assessment for this quarry, enough concern has been shown by the people of Ontario to prompt the Government of Ontario into taking this unprecedented step.

Broad concerns are: loss of water quality, loss of prime farmland, food security, community impact, health impact, loss of long-term jobs, blasting impact, explosives transportation and storage, additional heavy traffic, dust, loss of air quality, noise pollution, Niagara Escarpment impact, environmental impact, impact on fish, potential to take water, water ownership, potential to export, rehabilitation and site after-use.

The Precautionary Principle states: “Where threats of serious or irreversible harm to people or nature exist, anticipatory action will be taken to prevent damages to human and environmental health, even when full scientific certainty about cause and effect is not available, with the intent of safeguarding the quality of life for current and future generations.”

Based on the Precautionary Principle this proposal should never have been made.

Currently, the ball is in Highland’s court. The company has engaged a high profile public relations firm³ and expensive lawyers. The Province of Ontario mandated an unprecedented provincial environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed quarry in Sept-2011. The first step of the EA is for Highland to file the terms of reference (ToR). In the mean time, opponents are (i) generating awareness, (ii) demanding a Joint Review Panel (includes a Federal environmental assessment), and (iii) raising funds for the upcoming fight. Yes, this will be a long (10 years?) and expensive ($2 million?) fight.

The principal of the Highland Companies, Mr. John Lowndes, is the brother of Mr. David Lowndes of Lowndes Holdings who initiated zoning for a quarry in Flamborough. Lowndes Holdings ultimately sold its Flamborough interest to St. Mary’s Cement. St. Mary’s continues to pursue the Flamborough quarry despite heavy opposition and is now suing the Government of Canada under NAFTA. See FORCE for further information. [Also General FAQs and glossary courtesy of FORCE.]

Finally, to quote an article by Our Innisfill, Melancthon Quarry and Lessons from Site 41, “In other words, the foreign-funded commercial mining enterprise reaps the benefit of maximum extraction and profit during a finite lifespan while Ontario residents are expected to assume all the risk of unknown, possibly unforeseen, consequences without limit.”

Excellent Overviews	Media
Sep-09 In the Hills	High Stakes in the High Country (Editorial)
Nov-09 Torontoist	Forget Paving Paradise, Let’s Just Dig a Giant Hole in It
Mar-11 Highland Companies	Video – Proposed Melancthon Quarry
Apr-11 Dyson Forbes	Video – PitStop
May-11 Wayne Roberts	NOW – Open-pit politics
May-11 Kathryn Heming & Andrew Sheppard	Video
Jun-11 In the Hills	Birth of a Protest - Melancthon Mega Quarry by the Numbers
Infographic	What is Mega?
Aug-11 ON Nature Magazine	The Big Pit
Sep-11 Jason van Bruggen	Video – Water
Oct-11 Wellington Water Watchers	Melancthon Update – letter from Cam MacKinnon, CAUSE
Nov-11 Toronto Sun	Melancthon mega quarry should concern everyone
Jan-12 Toronto Star	Anatomy of a quarry fight
Feb-12 Highland Companies	Presentation to Melancthon Council
Aug-12 Toronto Life	How a small group of farmers and wealthy weekenders made the Melancthon mega-quarry protest a cause célèbre
Oct-12	Video – Soupstock Call to Action

Disclaimer: Webmaster assumes no liability for any inaccurate, delayed or incomplete information, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All information should be verified independently before being used and relied on. You agree not to hold the Webmaster of this site responsible for the content or operation of such websites.

Groups/Citizens Expressing Concern

News History

What Can I Do to Stop the Quarry?

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Return to www.facebook.com/friends.of.ndact

Footnotes

¹Aggregate – is defined in Ontario’s Aggregate Resources Act as gravel, sand, clay, earth, shale, stone, limestone, dolostone, sandstone, marble, granite, rock or other prescribed material. Alternatively, it is described as any combination of sand, gravel, or crushed stone in a natural or processed state.

²Why do we need limestone mining? - Calcite and dolomite (a magnesium-rich limestone), when heated and in some cases slurried or combined with salt, are used in making many everyday products such as paper, glass, paint and varnish, soap and detergents, textiles, refractories, baking powder, and pharmaceuticals, including milk of magnesia and bicarbonate of soda. Finely ground, they are used to control coal mine dust, to collect sulfur dioxide from power plant exhaust, to sweeten soils, and as ingredients in fertilizer and stock feeds, to name a few. Limestone is used extensively in Michigan to refine beet sugar.  When burned in a kiln to drive off gases, calcite and dolomite form burnt lime. Among the uses for burnt lime, in addition to steel making, are water and sewage treatment, acid waste neutralization, and road base stabilization. Crushed calcite and dolomite are used in concrete, road construction, building materials, and as a filler in asphalt. List of limestone mining operations in Canada by Natural Resources Canada.

³See article Beware Private Water Speculators posted by CPPA Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (1-Sep-2011) under “The PR Firms” and “More PR Undercurrents” for the interesting intertwining of politicians and lobbyists.

Other Grassroots Groups & Aggregate Battles:

Bobcaygeon – Ledge Road – Facebook EBR #011-5886, Class A quarry, above water, unlimited tonnage. For now it is 432 acres and cement plant, but the potential for expansion is much greater. Proposal. www.stopthisquarry.com

Brampton – Brampton Brick Ltd., proposed shale quarry, near Norval, northwest Brampton, 23 acres, 80 feet deep (info@pit-STOP.ca)

Caledon – People for Responsible Escarpment Development Caledon (REDC) – 3,800 acre corridor of licenced pits held by multiple operators extending from Caledon Village west to Belfountain, with a potential of growth to 4,600 acres.

Caledon – McCormick Pit on Heart Lake Road, Pitsense

Caledon – Brock’s Tottenham Pit, Protect Caledon Inc

Duntroon – Walker’s quarry expansion in the Niagara Escarpment – Clearview Community Coalition

Ingersoll, Oxford County – www.opalalliance.ca

Suebar C says on Facebook: “This is the Carmeuse Lime mega-quarry beside Ingersoll, ON. With a total acreage of over 2000 acres, some of the farmland you see above the quarry will be blasted out of the ground over the next 175 years. Because of this quarry and several other large pits in the area, we do not meet provincial air quality standards for particulate and have elevated rates of respiratory illnesses in the vicinity. Operations have impacted drinking water wells, and people have complained for decades about the odours, truck traffic, noise, and the foundations of their homes being cracked from blasting vibrations. To add insult to injury, a private company www.walkerea.com is proposing to put a mega-landfill into a 200 acre portion of it. I'm on the executive of a community group fighting this proposal.”

McNab/Braeside – Friends Addressing Concerns Together In McNab/Braeside (FACT-MB)

Paris, Brant County – Watts Pond Road, re-opening of a 38 year old licence plus creation of a 614 acre pit on farmland by Dufferin Aggregates Ltd. Concerned Citizens of Brant (article 17-Oct-2012)

Palgrave, Simcoe County – Tottenham Pit – Brock Aggregates, the owner of this exhausted and now dormant above-the-water-table gravel pit has applied to re-open the pit by extracting below the water table, contrary to the original agreement to use the exhausted site for estate residential lots. Residents are worried about water contamination and negative community impact. Fuel spill at Tottenham Pit worries residents (Alliston Herald)