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(c   c ʹ A company controlled by
Boston-based hedge fund The Baupost Group has submitted
Canada͛s largest ever quarry application in order to extract
limestone to a level 200 feet below the water table. The
proposed mega quarry site covers 2,316 acres of prime
agricultural farmland in Dufferin County, just north of Toronto,
also known as `

`

 because it is the source of
several major rivers including the Grand, the Nottawasaga and the
Pine. Local citizens, community-based groups and a number of
environmentally concerned NGO͛s are upset and angry. They are
calling on the McGuinty Government to subject this mega quarry
proposal to a Provincial Environmental Assessment. An official
request was submitted to Ontario Environment Minister John
Wilkinson last week by the law firm of Davis LLP, solicitors for the
Citizen͛s Alliance United for a Sustainable Environment (͞CAUSE͟).

The mega quarry proposal would entail the ongoing management
of 600 million litres of water every day, FOREVER. The blasting
and extraction of limestone would destroy farms that are made
up of Honeywood Silt Loam, a unique ͚high land͛ horticultural soil
with its own classification in the Canadian Soil Registry. It would
interfere with the source water of these major river systems and
could place them at risk. ͞The massive scale and potentially
devastating environmental impacts associated with such a large
industrial extraction operation warrant the most comprehensive
environmental review available,͟ contends Carl Cosack, a local
area farmer and Vice-Chair of the North Dufferin Agricultural
Community Task Force (͞NDACT͟). ͞I am confident that most
Ontarians would be shocked to learn that the government has yet
to decide to subject the largest open pit mine of its kind ever
contemplated in Ontario to a proper environmental review, ͞ he
added.

The Provincial Cabinet has the option of designating this project
as an undertaking subject to the more appropriate and
comprehensive Environmental Assessment Act. As it stands, the
mega quarry proposal requires a zoning change under the
Planning Act and a licence from the Ministry of Natural Resources
under the Provincial Aggregate Resources Act. ͞Consideration of
the mega quarry proposal under these two pieces of legislation
deprives the people of Ontario of a comprehensive review of the
potential impacts that it could have on the environment, and
instead effectively punts the approvals process to the Ontario
Municipal Board,͟ noted Dr. Harvey Kolodny, a Director of the
Citizen͛s Alliance United for a Sustainable Environment
(͞CAUSE͟). ͞We are calling on the Premier to exercise his good
judgement to ensure that the interests of Ontarians are properly
addressed under the Environmental Assessment review process͟
Kolodny added.
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Carl Cosack, Vice-Chair,
NDACT Dr. Harvey Kolodny,
Director, CAUSE
519-925-
6628 519-
941-1516