Province dismisses three appeals against Fall River quarry

The province has dismissed three appeals against a controversial quarry near Fall River, N.S.

Scotian Materials Ltd. received a 10-year approval to operate a four-hectare site on Perrin Driveon June 19.

Today'sdecision means the company will continue working on the quarry, which is something Tom Mills doesn't agree should happen.

Mills isthe chairperson for theShubenacadieWatershed Environmental Protection Society (SWEPS),one of the three groups that filed an appeal.

"I wasn't surprised at the decision, because I felt that the government really did want to push this forward regardless. I'm disappointed in the decision specifically in regards to the government's lack of recognition that this is directly above an important watershed and drinking water for people downstream," he said.

"That's the major disappointment from our point of view."

The other parties in the appeal were the MLA for the area, Bill Horne, who has not yet responded to a request for comment. The third party's information was redacted in the decision released Friday.

According to the decision, the appeals centred on a lack of an environmental assessment, concerns about contamination of the Soldier Lake and Miller Lakewatersheds and adverse side-effects onresidents, such as blasting impacts, the effects on wells and unnecessary risk to public health and safety.

'Evidence-based decision-making'

ScotianMaterials president RobMacPhersonsaid in a written statement that the ruling reflects "sound, evidence-based decision-making."

"ScotianMaterials has worked hard to follow the rule of law every step of the way on this project," MacPherson said.

"We have tried to be open, transparent and responsive to community concerns. We have made changes when asked to do so, or when we felt it was important to show local residents that we recognized the issues being raised."

Environment Minister Iain Rankin removed himself from the file this summer because of a past relationship with the company's president.He and MacPherson worked together while Rankinwas employed in the private sector.

The file was reviewed by acting minister of environment Leo Glavine, who ultimately dismissed the appeals.

Approval could be suspended later on

In his decision, Glavinewrote thatSoldier and Miller lakes are not protected water areas and that "no information was provided to support the position that the Soldier/Miller Lake watershed is a source of drinking water."

He saidthe adjacent Lake Major Watershed, however, does provide drinking waterbut this is outside the drainage basin for the quarry, "therefore an impact on the surface water of this watershed is not possible."

In his decision to Horne, Glavine wrote that groundwater monitoring will be done quarterly, and if there are impacts to the water further down the road, the approval can be suspended.

As for the concerns about the lack of an environmental assessment, Glavine saidonly quarries four hectares or more are subject to an assessment. This quarry is 3.9 hectares.

Project has controversial past

The company hasgone through a long fight to get to this point.

Parts of the local community havebeen opposing the project since at least 2011. TheEnvironment Department approved the quarry in 2015, butformerenvironment minister Andrew Younger revoked theapproval later that year,saying there was a lack of public consultation byScotianMaterials Ltd.

The company abandoned a plan for a judicial review of Younger's decisionto revoke the permit, and in early 2016 filed for a new permit altogether, which included meetings with stakeholders and the public and a website that could receive public comments.