Melancthon mega quarry threatens groundwater activists

Posted on November 28, 2011 By Samuel Greenfield An hour and a half north of Toronto a gripping drama is playing out in a quiet rural community. Ontarios largest potato grower backed by a multi-billion dollar hedge fund wants to dig a megaquarry into some the provinces best farmland, threatening a way of life and potentially contaminating the communitys water supply. Somewhere down a dirt side road in Melancthon Township an hour and a half northwest of Toronto, the cold fall wind whips through the bare limbs of two trees that mark an old farm lane. The trees are like gravestones; the last hint of the extensive farmstead that once stood at the end of the drive before it was razed to the ground. With their towering silos and sprawling outbuildings, farmsteads are the castles of Ontarios rural townships. A farmer will tell you that his job is different from other vocations. There is something uniquely tangible about tilling the soil, caring for livestock and witnessing first-hand the cycle of life. Farmers are the businessmen of lifes essentials, but they often seem more like romantics. So it wasnt the sort of community that looked for conflict an unpretentious farming community more in-tune to the turning of the seasons and the fertile earth beneath their feet than most anything else. But sometimes the allure of riches will sway even the romantic. Just down the road are two other bulldozed farmsteads combined they are three out of 30 that have disappeared in the last few years, the heavy footprint of a new member in the community: The Highland Companies. Now Melancthons farmers have become environmental activists in the fight of their lives to stop companys plan to dig a 2316-acre mega-quarry that they fear will industrialize their community, poison their water and change their way of life forever. The project would be the largest of its kind in Canada, drawing from a one billion-tonne reserve of stone tucked away under the potato fields now owned by Highlands.

Over chili and biscuits at Ralph and Mary-Lynne Armstrongs kitchen table, conversation goes right to the subject of the proposed quarry. The corporate thoughts of what they should do here and what the community thoughts aretheyre not the same, says Ralph, who grew up on the farm. Both in their late 60s, the couple raise beef cattle, sheep and pigs on about 200 acres located within sight of property owned by Highlands. Highlands first made their appearance in 2006 and started buying up farms, saying they wanted to start a world-class potato operation the area is a major source of potatoes eaten in the nearby GTA. It was a tantalizing offer of quick riches for those earning their livelihoods from a way of life that has seen better days. And in the span of a few years, Highlands owned about 8000 acres, much of it from Ontarios dwindling stock of prime agricultural land. At the beginning it was a lot of confusion because we didnt know who was selling or who wasnt selling, says Ralph. Some of us felt that it was aggregate that was coming down the tube somewhere, adds Mary-Lynne. The Armstrongs were approached by three different representatives from Highlands offering to buy their farm. But they held out. The property has been in the family for over 150 years and they aim to keep it that way. The couple has five daughters one of whom might take over the farm with her husband. They recall how one of the men told them they might as well sell as they didnt have any boys to take over the farm. As if daughters couldnt take over the farm, says Mary-Lynne. True to their word, Highlands started growing potatoes so many of them that they became the largest potato grower in Ontario. That also made them a major property owner, taxpayer, and a sizable employer in the sparsely populated township. But there was something strange about Highlands. There was the demolition of the farmsteads, fence rows and tree lines; the wide swaths of empty space clear-cut through bush lots, the archeological walks and the digging of test wells. In March 2011 Highlands officially filed a 3000+ page application for the 2316-acre quarry, but their intentions were public knowledge long before. In order to dig, Highlands must first succeed in getting the land rezoned and obtain a quarry licence from the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).

In addition, the project was recently ordered to undergo a provincial Environmental Assessment (EA) a small victory for activists since quarries are normally exempt from EAs. However, Highlands is not disappearing any time soon. The company has a slick PR machine, lobbyists, and the backing of Baupost Group, a multibillion dollar US-based hedge fund. But opposition to the quarry is mounting. Foodstock, an event held in the area last October to oppose the megaquarry, featured big-name chefs such as Michael Stadtlnder and drew up to over 28,000 people. And anti-quarry lawn signs are not only seen in Melancthon, but have also sprouted in Toronto. But nostalgia aside, the major cause of contention surrounding the quarry is the alleged threat to the communitys groundwater. In Melancthon, water is never far away just a few feet below in some places. Locals say it practically bubbles out of the earth, feedings the lakes, ponds and rivers that are everywhere in the area. The high water table combined with its excellent soil is a boon to local agriculture. For a simplified understanding of what a water table is, imagine digging a hole in the sand at a beach. Youve hit the water table when water begins to seep in and form a pool. Melancthons potato fields are part of a 15,000-acre plateau of Honeywood Silt Loam soils bordered to the east by the Niagara Escarpment. This soil is a fertile mixture of sand, silt and clay that provides superb drainage and offers an ideal womb for potatoes. The rock below is dolomite limestone. The carbonate rock is soft and porous. Water gets into the pores, and over time, slowly dissolves the rock. This rock formation is known as a karst. It is full of fractures and cavities of varying sizes through which water travels. This subterranean water can be under great pressure. It moves from high pressure to low pressure areas and gravity flows so that Melancthons high elevation makes it something of a geological water tower for surrounding watersheds.

Although the water is good for local agriculture, it makes quarrying a complicated venture especially when Highlands wants to scrape and blast up to 200 feet below the water table. In order to keep the quarry dry enough to extract stone, the company would need to pump up to 600 million liters of water out of the pit every day the rough equivalent of the water used daily by nearly a quarter of all Ontarians. Highlands plans to put water back down into the aquifer through a number of recharge wells and the company insists ground water will not be contaminated. It also claims that the water manipulation will not have any significant impact on water in the surrounding areas. The companys PR machine paints a rosy picture where the quarry floor will progressively be rehabilitated into productive farmland. Concerns about excessive dust, contamination of groundwater from explosives (ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel) and increased local traffic from up to 150 heavy trucks entering and leaving the quarry every hour are all minimalized or explained away. A promotional video on the companys PR website entitled The choice is clear suggests that the Melancthon quarry is a better alternative to digging rock out of the Niagara Escarpment. But local rancher Carl Cosack doesnt find himself in agreement with Highlands optimism. Cosack is chair of the North Dufferin Agricultural Task Force (NDACT), a group of local residents who banded together in opposition to the quarry. This is the crux of it, they say: it can run the way it is today, we can collect it, then re-pump it [and it] will continue like it was before. It wont! You dont have to have a PhD to see that this isnt gonna be this way, says Cosack. Cosacks skepticism is echoed by Emil Frind, a hydrogeologist from the University of Waterloo who wrote a letter to the MNR outlining his concerns with Highlands proposed quarry. They are brushing everything off, they say everything is going to be fine, but they really dont have any proof, says Frind of Highlands consultants. He wants to see the company prepare for the worst case scenario, such as the failure of the equipment designed to inject water back into the aquifer.

In this situation Frind belives a drawdown cone in the water table could occur, extending for kilometers around the quarry. To further complicate the matter the area is the headwaters for several rivers and their surrounding watersheds. Anti-quarry activists are concerned that if the project goes ahead as planned, those areas downstream could be adversely affected. And so its worries like those that keep activists motivated to keep the debate going. Back in the Armstrongs kitchen it seems like a David and Goliath struggle. The couple could have retired from the farm with hundreds of thousands in the bank. Instead they chose to stay and challenge a company backed by billions of dollars because they believed it was the right thing to do. If this quarry went through as proposed I think farming, over a period of a few years, will be gone out of this area, says Ralph. The essentials of life are the sun, the air, and the water and the soil. You cant take any of those away or well perish.