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 Guelphs 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 Guelphs 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@guelphmercury.com