Steffen Mangold and Joy Hanley, members of the Mini Trail Quarry Concerns Society, were speakers Sunday afternoon during a public meeting at Arisaig Community Hall. The group continues to fight a proposed Alva Construction Northumberland Quarry expansion in Georgeville, Antigonish County, which received environmental approval from the provincial department earlier this month. (Corey LeBlanc photo)

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The Mini Trail Quarry Concerns Society is continuing its work to thwart the proposed expansion of the Northumberland Rock Quarry.
More than 50 people gathered Sunday afternoon at Arisaig Community Hall to receive an update from the group regarding its effort.
Earlier this month, Alva Construction received environmental approval – with conditions – to expand the size of its operation in Georgeville, Antigonish County, from four to 54 hectares, which is at the core of the group’s concerns.
The society formed on the heels of Alva’s environmental approval application, raising concerns about several issues, including the size of the proposed expansion, safety conditions, possible increased traffic and dust, along with neighbouring land owners (as is required) not being notified of the expansion plan.
At Sunday’s meeting, members said the group wants the “status quo” with the operation, citing concerns with the associated change in hours approved in the application and their possible effect on safety due to areas such as increased traffic and noise-air pollution.
Since making the application, Alva Construction has reiterated it has no plans to expand the quarry to the proposed 54 hectares, citing that company consultants suggested it would be beneficial for the company in the long run to develop an environmental assessment approval application for that amount.
The company has said there will be little or no change to its current operation.
In its application document, the company said – weather permitting – the potential operating schedule – now and in the future – would be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 50 weeks or more per year, depending on the demand for aggregates.
However, the document added it is unlikely that this level of production would be achieved except on a short term basis.
If the company would agree to make a pledge not to change the level of its operation in terms of size – with the inherent increase in truck traffic and so forth – the society said it would be satisfied, reiterating its goal is not to close the quarry, but to negate what it envisions as significant effects on the community with a larger quarry operation.
In the environmental approval granted by provincial minister Stirling Belliveau Jan. 9, the active area of the quarry cannot exceed 10 hectares, unless otherwise approved by the department.
For the society, concerns remain about the environmental approval process, which it suggests is flawed on a number of levels, including the amount of time (30 days) that is granted for responses to applications.
“It has been an exercise in public values being run over,” Joy Hanley, one of the society members that chaired Sunday’s meeting, said.
She added the society’s goal is to work with the company.
The society has taken issue with portions of the application, including the description of the area around the quarry as rural with few homes.
“We are a very thriving, growing, changing and healthy community,” Hanley said.
The group supported that position with a handout providing a provincial overview of the demographics in the Malignant Cove and Mahoney Beach communities, including growing population numbers.
Steffen Mangold, society member and neighbouring land owner to the quarry, said there have been “significant mistakes” throughout the application process.
“We want to take them at their word, but we need a legally binding commitment,” he said of the company’s stated intention not to increase the size of its operation.
“If it was a condition for [environmental approval], we would not be here,” he added.
Mangold paid for a report completed by a lawyer and environmental engineering firm to submit during the application process. He said their findings described a “flawed process.” In early January, society members and other community residents – more than 20 – participated in a Community Health Impact Assessment (CHIA) forum with facilitators.
Susan Eaton, one of the facilitators, outlined the process Sunday. She said the CHIA – a method established by the Antigonish Town and County Community Health Board in 2002 – gathers the potential harms and benefits of a proposed policy or project. It attempts to discover what can be done beforehand to maximum the benefits and minimize the bad aspects.
Safety, including increased truck traffic, was sighted as the number one concern for participants.
Along with the call for maintaining the “status quo” in its operating hours, CHIA participants said any Community Liaison Committee established by the company – which is a requirement of the environmental approval – must be “effective and meaningful” with fair representation from the community.
The CHIA also recommends that the provincial environment department review its application process and protocol, along with providing more time for people to respond during the process.
Making the EA report more available and offering a process for making corrections to such reports were also recommended.
Antigonish MLA Maurice Smith and Municipality of the County of Antigonish District 1 councillor Mary MacLellan also participated in Sunday’s meeting.
Smith read a letter he penned earlier this month to the provincial environment minister, which he said synthesized concerns he had been given from community members, including the results of the CHIA.
MacLellan outlined her work over the last several weeks with both sides involved with the issue, including several meetings and correspondence. She was also one of the participants in the CHIA process.
On a personal level, she said she would “share the same concerns” as the society if the quarry expansion took place to the extent indicated in the approved application.
There is no appeal process for an environmental assessment decision, other than a court challenge, which the society said it is working towards if there is no agreement struck with Alva.
With such a court challenge, the estimated price tag is $20,000.
Meeting attendees were reminded that a bank account to assist with this legal process, along with other work of the society, including conducting meetings, has been established at Scotiabank Antigonish.
As the effort continues, society members said it would benefit the effort if people contacted Alva representatives, offering their concerns and encouraging the company to maintain the status quo with its operation.
“Maybe we can sway them into working with us,” Hanley said.
Representatives from Alva were invited to Sunday’s meeting, but the society said they declined.
Alva representatives were contacted for comment about the invitation and other items stemming from the meeting, including the society’s request to maintaining the quarry operation in the status quo part of its application approval, but they did not respond as of press time.