[All] Fwd: Guelph city council on Mega Quarry

[Norah & Richard]

Scott Tracey, Mercury staff for Tuesday June 21st Guelph Mercury.


  City will ask province to closely scrutinize quarry proposal

GUELPH --- It may not have a direct impact on Guelph's water, but city 
officials still want the province to scrutinize a proposal for a massive 
quarry in Dufferin County.

Members of the planning and building, engineering and environment 
committee voted unanimously Monday to ask the province to subject the 
proposal to an examination under the Environmental Assessment Act.

City resident Karen Balcom, who has been vocal in her concerns about the 
proposed 2,300-acre open pit mine in Melancthon Township, asked 
officials to put some pressure on the province.

"Such a designation would trigger a far wider scientific investigation 
of the proposal leveraging public resources and requiring more study 
funded by the proponent," Balcom said.

The proposal by The Highland Companies --- which would result in one of 
the largest open-pit quarries in North America --- has drawn wide 
attention, largely because the site is near the headwaters of several 
major rivers.

A staff report presented to the committee this week makes clear the 
proposed operation falls outside the Speed River subwatershed "and is 
not considered to be a concern with respect to either the quality or 
sustainability of Guelph's water supply."

However, the staff report suggests "thorough reviews" of the proposal by 
regulatory agencies and affected municipalities "to ensure that adverse 
impacts on municipal water supply systems and on the environment are 
eliminated or minimized."

Last week, Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong,  spoke out against 
the quarry proposal in the House of Commons, calling for a federal 
review of the application and suggesting it could be "an environmental 
disaster in the making."

/stracey at guelphmercury.com <mailto:stracey at guelphmercury.com>/

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