Quarry operating permits renewed despite objections

Despite months of protests from many area residents, the New Brunswick Department of Environment has approved the renewal of permits for the company currently operating the granite quarry in Bayside. However, the government did add some restrictions.
The Charlotte County Chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick has been leading the charge to have Jamer Materials' renewal permit denied and wants the present quarry operation phased out by December 31, 2008. The group is concerned about potential contamination from the operation and from a now excavated tailings disposal site within the Chamcook watershed, which supplies drinking water for St. Andrews.

Michael Cormier, regional director of the New Brunswick Department of the Environment, says the renewal runs from May 20, 2007, until May 19, 2012, but he points out, "We built conditions. They have to confirm whether there is a problem or not, based on science."

Janice Harvey is director of the Fundy Baykeeper program, which is part of the Bayside Preservation group. Although her committee hadn't had an opportunity to issue an official response to the news that Jamer's operating permit had been renewed, she says "I'm very disappointed that the quarry got a five-year renewal. We wanted it be for one year only."

"We had asked that plans needed to be put in place to phase this project out and asked for a number of restrictions on the permit addressing negative effects such as groundwater contamination, fissures from blasting in the bedrock that could be a route for pollution to the drinking water, dust, noise and run-off in the river."

However, Harvey adds that the Department of Environment's approval of Jamer Materials' operating permit for five more years "doesn't guarantee the quarry will operate for five years. If information becomes available, the time period can be shortened."

She is also pleased that some conditions were tacked on to the approval, including having Jamer Materials monitor groundwater contamination and particulates in the air. "This was a direct response, in our view, to people's complaints. Is it what we asked for? No. But it's an inkling that the government acknowledges there are problems."

One of the community's biggest concerns is that Jamer would cross Highway 127 and start quarrying in Simpsons Hill, but Foulkes says, "I think that's less and less likely, based on the government's response [in attaching conditions to the renewal]."

Harvey says Fundy Baykeeper currently has a legal researcher "going through reams and reams of information, and we're waiting for a final report. We received thousands of documents under the New Brunswick Right To Information Act, so we know what [Jamer's] business plan is."

"We're not letting up our pressure, but we feel there's a dialogue now that had been absent. I think we're going to win this in the end."