Dufferin Aggregates' Halton Quarry Expansion

Response to Cabinet Decision

• Cabinet Decision on the Dufferin Aggregates Quarry Expansion
• September 2006 Action Alert
• Dufferin Commentary
• Dufferin Aggregates Expansion Timeline
• Previous Action Alert

In January 2001, Dufferin Aggregates filed applications with five municipal and provincial agencies, including the Niagara Escarpment Commission, for a northward expansion of its massive Halton Quarry operation that straddles the boundary between Milton and Halton Hills north of Highway 401. This is the location of the infamous "Dufferin gap", the highly visible gouge in the cliff face blasted out in 1962 before there were controls on Escarpment quarrying.

The proposed aggregate license expansion is for an 83-hectare area north of the existing Main Quarry and North Quarry. Seventy hectares of it is proposed for mining. The total property acquisition has been 245 hectares, with the non-licensed 162 hectares reserved for environmental buffers. The proposed expansion would enlarge the existing 468-hectare quarry by 18 percent. There are eight to ten years of reserves left in the existing quarry, with the expansion extending the life of the whole site by 10 to 12 years. Under these predictions, the quarry would close completely 22 years from now, in 2023.

Part of the new quarry would be outside the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area, while most is within the Escarpment Rural Area designation.

Dufferin Aggregates' Halton Quarry

The Hearing

In the fall of 2003, CONE and one of its member groups, POWER (Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources, based in Halton Hills), teamed up to present the only opposition to the massive quarry expansion. A public hearing was looming - and no other organization or agency was prepared to contest expansion of the largest active quarry in Canada in the Greater Toronto Area's largest forest.

CONE and POWER have pooled resources, retained highly experienced environmental lawyer Joseph Castrilli, and brought together an impressive group of expert witnesses to the Consolidated Hearings Board (Joint Board) hearing, which began in January 2004. Why are we there?

• Dufferin Aggregates has gained support for the quarry expansion from the Region of Halton, the Town of Halton Hills, the Town of Milton, Conservation Halton, and even the Niagara Escarpment Commission. Without CONE and POWER, the hearing would be a sham.
• The Milton Quarry lies in the heart of the largest woodland within 100 kilometres of Toronto. The Halton Forest is made up of three adjoining Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSIs) that together cover 6,400 acres. This forested area is the largest tract of natural vegetated landscape south of Grey County.
• The Milton Quarry lies within a significant headwaters region that includes several tributaries of 16 Mile Creek.
• Since mining would take place below the groundwater table, the quarry expansion would create three permanent artificial lakes to depths of up to 100 feet. To prevent these lakes from sucking the surrounding creeks and wetland dry, Dufferin Aggregates would construct an elaborate system of 126 recharge wells that would have to operate in perpetuity.

CONE and POWER's opposition to the quarry expansion at the hearing is based on two arguments:

• The continuous natural corridor of the Escarpment - whose very protection is the purpose of the Niagara Escarpment Plan - would be lost.
• In fact, to get around this problem, Dufferin has proposed to add lands to the NEP area to recreate a new corridor. This turns escarpment boundaries into a floating reserve for new quarries - an unacceptable precedent.
• The reliability of the engineering works required to manage water movement in this area of the Escarpment are completely unproven at such a large scale - yet would have to operate effectively forever.

CONE and POWER gratefully accept all donations for our case. Our legal costs and other hearing costs are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Read CONE and POWER'S final argument.

Petition to Cabinet

CONE and POWER received the result of the hearing in June 2005. The quarry expansion was approved subject to 44 conditions set by the Joint Board. We have decided to appeal this decision to the next level - Cabinet. Our petition was filed on June 28, 2005.

• Read the Hearing Decision. (Caution - 1.29MB PDF)
• Read CONE and POWER'S Petition to Cabinet.

On August 18, 2005, the Niagara Escarpment Commission passed the following resolution, forwarded to Cabinet, in response to the petition:

"The Niagara Escarpment Commission has reviewed the Petitions filed by CONE/POWER and Mr. Robin Denman with regard to the Joint Board hearing on the applications of Dufferin Aggregates, and the Decision of the Joint Board, and the responses to these Petitions made by Dufferin Aggregates and the Regional Municipality of Halton and Conservation Halton, as requested, and recommends that the Cabinet be sensitive to the following matters in its deliberations:

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1. The implications of land exchanges/Niagara Escarpment Plan additions as conditions of approval;
2. The implications of maintaining a perpetual pumping arrangement to maintain environmental features;
3. The reliance on engineered solutions to maintain critical aspects of the mining and rehabilitation plans; and
4. An evaluation of the impact of the entire application of Dufferin Aggregates on the principle of maintaining a continuous natural environment as required by the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act and the Niagara Escarpment Plan."

• Read the NEC Staff Report produced as background to the August 18, 2005 resolution.

Cabinet Decision

The Cabinet decision on the Dufferin Aggregates Milton Quarry expansion was released yesterday to our lawyer Joe Castrilli. Cabinet has confirmed the Joint Board decision so the quarry expansion will proceed. Cabinet amended some of the conditions of the approval in a two-page list of changes, and Cabinet issued a two-page 'Statement of Cabinet' that gives their rationale for approving the expansion.

Read the Cabinet Decision.