Dear Sir,
Doreen Henschell surely raises a good point in last week’s Advertiser, that there must be some pearl in the oyster of a quarrying and blasting operation at Hidden Quarry just south of Rockwood. As a parishioner at St. John’s Church, where the public forum was purposefully neutral, I chatted with Greg Sweetnam before the meeting began, and apologized that we had not been able to get another speaker to join his “side” of the table. Anyone in favour of the proposal was free to both attend and speak, but we were not able to get one single other panel member who could join him and speak positively toward the proposal. I was disappointed that all of Greg Sweetnam’s arguments were about the benefits to the province of increasing their available supply; and to his company, of having it closer to Toronto and therefore cheaper to truck it there. No-one from James Dick Construction is proposing to bring anything into our community, for example to build a house on the property which was once a wayside pit, or shop at our stores, or fill up at our gas stations, or worship at one of our churches. And they would be paying a low rate per ton, and a low tax rate, while making large sums per ton to take something out of our community, and clogging our roads with a large number of large trucks per hour to boot. In addition to that, recent studies by qualified professionals show there could be risks to our water quality, our water supply, our air quality, and any houses close to the pit site could be damaged by fly rock if they don’t get the “lake” they are expecting to appear. I would have appreciated, even been comforted by, any positive pearls that Ms Henschell could have offered!
Sincerely,
Susan Johnson
Susan Johnson