'Mega-quarry' in southern Ontario won't be built

[Saviolo]

Source: cbc.ca

The application to build a massive limestone quarry in Melancthon township near Orangeville, Ont., has been withdrawn.

The Highland Companies, the company behind the proposal, said in a news release that it acknowledges "the application does not have sufficient support from the community and government to justify proceeding with the approval process."

The company also said president John Lowndes has resigned and is no longer involved with the firm.

The scope of the project, which would have been developed on prime farmland near Orangeville, northwest of Toronto, earned it the moniker "mega-quarry." It would have spanned 937 hectares — about one-third the size of downtown Toronto — and create a crater 1½ times as deep as Niagara Falls.

Those opposed to the project were concerned about losing a massive swath of rich farmland and worried about the quarry’s effect on the water table.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/11/21/quarry-melancthon-proposal446.html

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Yay!! Instead of a huge hole in the ground, we will maintain a great deal of incredibly rich farmland. Love the comments about jobs, as though the farmers were just lazing about doing nothing.

[Lindsay]

1. That is excellent news.

I was following the story through Occupy Toronto, and the damage that quarry would have done to the land and the people was horrific. Nice to see a bit of sanity still remains in this world, although you'd never know it with the fracking doublespeak here.

[Saviolo]

2. It is indeed!

A rare example of the voice of the people overruling the highly moneyed voice of the corporations. I'd love to see more of this.

[Earth_First]

3. "the application does not have sufficient support from the community"

Wow.

I wish that were the way shit operated in the US.

[YOHABLO]

6. We Could Only Wish ... Let's Get Our Communities Back

[Canuckistanian]

4. Good news

I hadn't even heard about this project, but then again I'm in eastern Ontario.

It looks like the many people got active in stopping this and the Ontario government listened to the people!

[CHIMO]

5. Good News

For the time being. However, the company and properties may be sold to others to extract everything.

To those that may not know what has been going on, I offer this short explanation.

A company came into the area and offered to purchase farm land as they were going to farm it for potatoes. This continued for many years as they continued to purchase farms.

Then lo and behold they were going to dig down one and a half times deeper than the Empire State Building and remove the lime stone. This would be sold for feed into cement plants.

The side issue is water! The whole area is a source of underground water below the lime stone. If the groundwater is lost then the world changes in the whole southern area of the provience.

More Melancthon mega-quarry mysteries
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/panther-lounge/2011/09/more-melancthon-mega-quarry-mysteries/