Partnership for the Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society

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Province: Digby quarry proposal dead

By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter
Wed. Nov 21 - 5:26 AM

A Digby County quarry proposal is dead as far as Environment Minister Mark Parent is concerned.

But the minister wouldn’t say Tuesday whether the province would put other planned quarries on hold or subject them to the same level of scrutiny.

Mr. Parent announced he’s accepted the recommendation of a joint federal-provincial panel to reject the proposal by Bilcon of Nova Scotia to develop a quarry at Whites Point.

Bilcon, a subsidiary of Clayton Concrete, Block and Sand of New Jersey, planned a 150-hectare basalt quarry and a marine terminal to export the rock to the United States.

Mr. Parent said he accepted the panel’s opinion that Bilcon had come up short on environmental protection.

"I think it was the incomplete information on the environmental issues, which the panel pointed to, on various issues of hydrogeology, of site reclamation, of the effect on species at risk," he said.

Mr. Parent said his views weren’t changed by a letter he received from the company, claiming that the panel didn’t do its job properly and had weighed in on economic issues though it didn’t have the expertise to do so.

Bilcon issued a short statement condemning the decision and the process that led to it.

"For over 5 1/2 years, this project has been put through a remarkably unfair process in Nova Scotia," project manager Paul Buxton said. "We are disappointed for the people of Digby Neck and the promise that this project held for the community."

Mr. Parent acknowledged the process took a long time, which he said was unfair to Bilcon.

The minister wouldn’t comment on three of the panel’s other major recommendations: that the province develop a comprehensive coastal zone management plan, put all other quarry proposals for the North Mountain on hold until that plan is ready and require an environmental assessment for quarries of any size.

Jennifer Graham, the Ecology Action Centre’s coastal co-ordinator, applauded the Whites Point decision, but criticized the minister for not taking a strong stand on a broader coastal management plan.

"I think we need some clear leadership on coastal issues and we need some decisive action sooner," she said.

Ms. Graham said it’s especially important because the province’s coast is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as more intense storms and faster rates of shoreline erosion.

NDP environment critic Graham Steele said the minister took the easy way out.

"What’s really disappointing today is that the minister has completely ducked his responsibility to deal with the other recommendations, and, in particular, that the government develop a coastal zone management strategy," he said. "That one, apparently, is just going to disappear into the bowels of the bureaucracy."

Mr. Steele said he expected the minister’s decision on the quarry because the panel was so clear in its recommendation. But he said the coastal strategy is important in terms of knowing where development will be permitted and why.

Mr. Parent said the other recommendations affect various departments and he’ll be talking to his colleagues about them. He said the Fisheries Department is looking at coastal management issues.

A spokeswoman for that department couldn’t be reached Tuesday, but Ms. Graham said she thinks the department is focusing now on co-operation between different levels and departments of government.

Liberal MLA Harold (Junior) Theriault, who represents Digby-Annapolis, also encouraged the minister to come up with a plan for the coastline.

He said the 34 jobs the Whites Point project would have created wouldn’t have been worth its costs.

"The area needs economic development, but this quarry would have provided little in terms of job prosperity when compared to what it could cost in damage to the environment and tourism," Mr. Theriault said in a news release.

The marine terminal in Bilcon’s project was under the jurisdiction of the federal government, while the province handled the quarry. Mr..Parent said he announced his decision Tuesday because he didn’t know how long it would take Ottawa to make its decision and he didn’t want to leave Bilcon hanging.

Mr. Parent said Bilcon’s only avenue for appeal is through the courts.

( djackson@herald.ca)

Tue. Nov 13
Noel packs a message with punch

ARE YOU READY? "Dangerous storm" expected to pack hurricane-force winds, proclaimed newspaper headlines the day before tropical storm Noel pounded Nova Scotia. While hurricane Juan was notorious for the swatch of destruction it cut across the province, Noel will be remembered for the altered shorelines and chewed-up roads it left in coastal areas. 

And while Noel has passed, questions about our readiness remain. Nova Scotia is already in the midst of a dangerous storm. It is called climate change, it is already happening, and we are not prepared. The world's top scientists agree the average global temperature has risen at least 0.6° C over the last century. Experts have calculated that if the world's temperature rise reaches 2° C, we may be unable to reverse the effects of climate change.

We need to act urgently to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions so temperatures don't rise any further. We must also prepare ourselves for global warming caused by the greenhouse gases already emitted.

Post-Noel damage is a glimpse at how climate change and rising sea levels will directly affect our coastal areas: storm surges, coastal flooding, accelerated erosion, sedimentation of waterways, and damage to coastal houses, roads and wharves. Climate change will also affect our water supply and change the productive capacity of the forests and fisheries that remain the basis of our economy. 

Nova Scotia is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts because 70 per cent of our population lives in coastal areas, scattered in 360 communities. Our vulnerability is exacerbated because while places like England are preparing for climate change by preventing the construction of new houses and infrastructure within the coastal zone, and allowing large areas of dikeland to revert to natural wetlands as a buffer against rising seas, Nova Scotia is still blithely allowing new construction on beaches, wetlands and regularly flooded coastal areas - the very areas that should be kept free from development to maximize the natural resiliency and buffering capacities of our coasts. 

Nova Scotia is not prepared for an anticipated sea level rise of at least 70 centimetres in the next century. We are floundering in our approach to coastal management. Without decisive action to reduce our vulnerability, we are likely to be awash. It is refreshing that amidst this sea of confusion, the recent federal-provincial review panel report on the White Point quarry offers a common-sense road map for moving forward. The panel soundly recommended against the quarry - one of the few environmental assessment panels in the country ever to outright reject a project - and made some strong supporting recommendations. One of those recommendations was that Nova Scotia proceed quickly to develop and implement a comprehensive coastal management policy. 

Coastal zone management is a good investment - which is why almost every other jurisdiction in North America has a coastal policy. The benefits include simpler planning processes leading to less uncertainty, expense and conflict for proponents, regulators and communities; safeguarding ecologically sensitive coastal areas; minimizing expenses associated with repairing and maintaining coastal properties; and protection from climate change impacts.

The panel's recommendations make coastal policy easy. First, the minister of environment should accept the panel's recommendation to reject the quarry.

Second, the government should announce it is developing a provincial coastal strategy and a timeline for getting it done. Third, and in response to the panel's admonition that Nova Scotia develop and implement more effective mechanisms for consultation with local governments, communities and proponents, the province should form a coastal task force involving all levels of government, industries and citizen groups to put the flesh on the coastal management framework in the form of some draft legislation and regulations, and initiate a provincial consultation process. 

The panel's recommendations are the planks on which to move forward with a sustainable prosperity agenda and reduce our vulnerability to climate change. The ball is in the environment minister's hands. Is he prepared? 

Jennifer Graham is the coastal co-ordinator at the Ecology Acton Centre.

Visit www.under2c.blogspot.com to participate in a citizen-based initiative about climate change.

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Most welcome quarry decision, others lament lost opportunity

By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
Wed. Nov 21 - 5:26 AM

DIGBY — More than a few folks in Little River on Digby Neck were pleased Tuesday that Nova Scotia said no to a proposed quarry.

"I live on the same rock they (wanted) to blow up, so it was going to affect me," lobster fisherman Kevin Gidney said.

He lives across from an access road that begins in Little River and leads up and over North Mountain to Whites Cove on the Fundy shore, where the 150-hectare quarry was supposed to go.

Mr. Gidney never wanted the quarry.

"It would have affected us just living in the community," he said, referring to noise, dust and traffic along Digby Neck’s only highway, the 217.

In the Bay of Fundy, lobstermen would have had more headaches, he said.

"Freighters would be coming in there and cutting off our trawl."

Over at the Little River Trading Co., the village’s only general store, owner Royce Elderkin said lots of folks are tired of the constant debate.

"Most people are pleased" about the provincial government’s decision, he said.

He said there was fear of the unknown, especially in the lobster fishery.

A few people were looking for jobs at the quarry, but summer residents were mostly opposed to the project because they wanted peace and quiet, said Mr. Elderkin.

But Cindy Nesbitt is angry because of the decision.

She sat at a desk in a picturesque Little River country home, owned by Bilcon, and lamented the government’s action.

"I’m very disappointed at what’s happened. I feel like there’s a resounding thud and Nova Scotia just closed for business."

Bilcon would have been good for the local economy, said Ms. Nesbitt.

The company issued a brief statement Tuesday saying it was extremely disappointed by the minister’s decision.

"For over 5½ years, this project has been put through a remarkably unfair process in Nova Scotia," Paul Buxton, Bilcon’s project manager, said in the release.

Mr. Buxton would not take phone calls Tuesday.

"We are disappointed for the people of Digby Neck and the promise that this project held for the community," he said in the company statement.

The older, well-maintained Bilcon home is near the access road to the proposed Whites Point quarry location. Bilcon has allowed the community to use it in the evenings.

On Monday night, 56 people were at a bingo game, the largest crowd yet, said Ms. Nesbitt, who has been a volunteer letter writer as a grassroots lobbyist for the quarry.

On Fridays they play poker there. On Saturdays some gathered for pot-luck meals.

Now? No one knows.

An information meeting for people hoping to find work at the Whites Point quarry has been postponed indefinitely, she said.

"Honestly, I think he listened to the wrong people," Ms. Nesbitt said of Mr. Parent.

"I don’t think they gave any consideration to the local people and what we wanted. I think that he missed the point. We need jobs and . . . these are good ones," she said.

"There’s absolutely no chance of Nova Scotia ever becoming overdeveloped with the kind of policies and practices we have in this province."

( bmedel@herald.ca)

2007-11-20, Front
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Quarry proposal buried

By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter
Tue. Nov 20 - 4:31 PM

(PHOTO:Members of the Stop the Quarry group held a press conference in 2005 to talk about their opposition to the proposed basalt mine in Digby Neck. Environment Minister Mark Parent gave the project the final thumbs down on Tuesday. (DARREN PITTMAN/ Staff)

Environment Minister Mark Parent has turned down a proposed basalt quarry and marine terminal at Whites Point, Digby County.

Mr. Parent's decision, announced Tuesday morning, is in step with the findings of an independent panel that had reviewed the plan by the company Bilcon.

"The panel has submitted information that concludes the project poses unacceptable risk to the environment and the community. I agree with their conclusion and will not approve the project," Mr. Parent said in a news release.

The panel, which released its report a month ago, also questioned whether Bilcon had an agreement with local fishermen over the potential loss of their gear or damage to it. The panel didn't find any fishermen to back up that claim.

The panel called on government to create a comprehensive plan for coastal development. Mr. Parent said he's still considering that recommendation, plus others the panel put forward.

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/985486.html
2007-11-17, Opinion

The challenge of an undead N.S. quarry

RALPH SURETTE
Sat. Nov 17 - 4:47 AM

THE MINING industry is putting pressure on the provincial government to ignore the conclusions of the review panel on the proposed and controversial Digby Neck quarry, calling them flawed, and to give the quarry the go-ahead anyway.

The charge is that, in recommending against the project, the report went too far beyond the technical and the scientific by saying the quarry would be against the "core values" of Digby Neck, that the panel went beyond its mandate in recommending a broader quarrying policy for the North Mountain and a coastal zone policy for the province, and that it didn’t give enough weight to the arguments of the quarry company and other supporters of the project.

Let’s put it this way: Even if all this were true, it would still not be an argument for going ahead with the quarry. The very establishment of the review panel was a substitute for the government’s lack of nerve in drawing the obvious conclusions to begin with, which are the conclusions the panel drew, whether or not one wishes to argue with the way they did it.

As an example of the panel’s supposed pre-existing bias against the project, the industry statement faults it for not mentioning a survey that got 300 signatures in favour of the quarry. However, since it’s standard practice for mining companies getting into unpopular projects to circulate ambiguously worded surveys which they can later claim represent unqualified support, the panel was arguably wise to ignore it.

The harder fact is that the project has failed every significant test of support at every level. The Digby County municipality, Annapolis town and county, federal MP Robert Thibault, and fishery and tourism groups have all come out against it. And in 2003, quarry supporter Gordon Balser, who was Tory economic development minister and Digby-Annapolis MLA, lost his election to quarry opponent Harold Theriault Jr., with Digby Neck voters giving him the narrow victory.

The reason is not hard to decipher: a 300-acre quarry in the heart of fishing and tour-ism country that would go day and night for 50 years, blasting away with the force of as much as 25,000 kilograms of explosives per shot, and lugging away 40,000 tonnes a week of crushed basalt rock through a new marine terminal. The payoff for Nova Scotia? An average of a couple of dozen jobs, very likely offset by losses in fishing and tourism.

Why something so economically worthless for Nova Scotia, and actively destructive at the environmental level, could have such a persistent life is perhaps the question we should ask. What kind of hold do large foreign corporations and their local supporters have on our government? Occasionally, the argument has been made with regard to the quarry, as with other projects, that Nova Scotia must be seen to be "open for business."

Over our 50-year history of falling for worthless and half-baked schemes of value only to the promoters – most of which mercifully never saw the light of day – this phrase too often merely covered up our costly naiveté, although it was presented as a red-blooded determination to create jobs at any cost.

The Mining Association of Nova Scotia sees the review panel report as proof that mining is not given an even break in the province, and is being ignored by the government. It fails, however, to make a crucial distinction – between underground mining, that draws few or no objections and that is even deeply rooted in the culture of the province, and the generally destructive open-pit variety which is the source of all the resistance.

The industry is also skittish about the review panel creating a precedent for future projects. It is indeed within its rights to argue about process as it affects future projects. Mining is important and we should be getting this right in terms of public policy. However, that argument should be in the context of a quarry policy for the North Mountain and a coastal zone policy for the province as recommended by the panel. And in the context that the Digby Neck quarry stays dead. Huge holes in the ground just anywhere, and for no reason except the profits of the operators, is no longer acceptable in this province.

( rsurette@herald.ca)

Ralph Surette is a veteran freelance journalist living in Yarmouth County.

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Group: Quarry should get go-ahead 
Review of panel report urged
By STEVE PROCTOR Business Editor
Wed. Nov 14 - 8:13 AM

THE PLAN TO build a 150-hectare quarry near Digby may not yet be dead.

Although a recent environmental review panel slammed the $40-million project and recommended it be shelved, the new executive director of the Nova Scotia Mining Association says the industry is pushing to have the decision tossed out.

In an address Tuesday to mining executives, Michelle Landreville said the process used by the panel to make the decision was "fundamentally flawed" and therefore the conclusion was "flawed too."

She said the review was not fair or even-handed and the quarry was rejected because it was "at odds with core values of the community."

"When did core values become a matter of scientific inquiry? That’s a value judgment not supported by scientific fact. The report was not based on science and should be rejected."

The panel, chaired by Dalhousie University oceanographer Robert Fournier, rejected the proposal and called on the province to create a comprehensive management plan for coastal development. It said the environmental impact of the quarry would be so dramatic, it refused to suggest possible mitigation measures.

The decision was hailed by environmental groups as a definitive, even precedent-setting rejection, with little wiggle room for the project to re-emerge.

Ms. Landreville is unfazed by that assessment.

"We are calling on the premier (Rodney MacDonald) and Environment Minister Mark Parent to reject the report and the recommendations," the mining association’s new executive director said.

Bruce Nunn, a spokesman for the Environment Department, said the minister wants to read the report and discuss potential implications with staff before making a decision. There is no deadline for a decision, but Mr. Parent has said he will release his decision this fall.

Paul Buxton, project manager for quarry proponent Vilcon, could not be contacted Tuesday. Bilcon had said the quarry at Whites Point on Digby Neck would directly employ 34 people.

Ms. Landreville said the mining industry needs to be more strategic and more focused with its message because opposition groups, especially environmentalists, have become more strategic and focused.

She said mining is worth more than $400 million to the provincial economy but neither the public nor politicians give it much thought.

( sproctor@herald.ca)

21/Nov/2007 Chronicle-Herald Voice of the People page 10

Just say no!

Palph Surette's Nov. 17 column was bang-on abut the greed of mining companies. The Digby quarry proposal has had an expert and extensive review regarding the impact on fishing, enviromnent, etc.

This panel rejected the quarry, and it went further about future mining in Nova Scotia.

Why is this still open for debate with the politicians? Once again, it appears to be greed and outside coporations attempting to destroy our province for our resources, under the guise of creating jobs. Those representing us had better show leadership and "just say No!" This quarry is definitely wnot worth it.

Mike Moeller, Antigonish

21/Nov/2007 Chronicle-Herald  Voice of the People page 10

Coastal Plan Required

I refer Michelle Landreville, executive director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia, to Section 3 of the Nova Scotia Environment Act, which provides the legal definition of "environmental effect" for the purposes of environmental impact assessment. The defition clearly states that an environmental effect is any change that an undertaking may cause in the environment, including any effect on socio-economic conditions. the review panel was well within its mandate to consider the impact on community core values.

As for the question of adequate scientific evidence, the panel's summary of concerns on page 85 of its report points out the proponent's failure to provide adequate data on ocean conditions, climatic conditions, groundwater and the coastal wetland, among others. As well, they state the proponent failed to provide consistent or complete information on blasting, site drainage, ship manoeuvring, site reclamation, and the ecomomic viability of the project.

Yes, indeed, there were problems with the science, but they were rooted in the proponent's failure to provide adequate scientific information, not the panel's analysis of what was given.

Finally, the proponent and its advisers were provided tables immediately to the left to the panel, and were given a opportunity to ask questions and make comments after every public presentation.

How can the mining association, in good faith, call on the premier to reject a recommendation to develop a coastal
zone management plan for Nova Scotia? Wouldn't such a plan provide greater certainty for all?

Lisa Mitchell, Wolfville

21/Nov/2007 Chronicle-Herald  Voice of the People page 10

Need for backbone

Re: the Nov 14 opinion piece by Michelle Landreville, executive director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia. I doubt that anyone involved in the five-year fight against the proposed quarry on Digby neck is surprised that those connected with the quarrying and mining sectors, especially the proponents of the quarry, do not agree with the findings and recommendations of the Joint Review Panel and are not giving up without a fight.

They know that if the government agrees with those findings and refuses to let the quarry begin, it will cost them big money in lost opportunities to develop new mines and quarries. This will leave them unable to further exploit Nova Scotia's precious non-renewable resources.

The government-appointed panel did rule against the quarry with a strongly worded and precedent-setting refusal. They also admonished the Nova Scotia government concerning the necessity for setting up guidelines, rules and regulations to prevent this type od situation from occurring again. Hopefully, our government officials will finally show some backbone and take a stand against international corporate pressure, influence and greed, and stand up for its own land and people.

Eugenie Wilkins, Sandy Cove