Food and Water First
Food Water FirstHow taters trumped craters in Melancthon
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- Published on Thursday, 29 November 2012 01:08
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Anatomy of the Highland quarry opposition effort
Ralph and Mary Lynne Armstrong wouldn’t let their version of the high road be paved with corporate cash.
In late 2006, The Highland Companies began knocking on farmhouse doors throughout the Township of Melancthon in an effort to buy land to assemble a factory potato farm.
Despite a $1.6 million offer for their 200-acre livestock farm, the Armstrongs declined Highland’s bid.
“I guess you’d get tired of looking at your bankbook all day,” Ralph said. “I really feel this foodland situation is a big, big item coming up, not just here, but all over.”
The offer wasn’t a one-off proposal. The Armstrongs, whose family have farmed the land since 1853, were visited by Highland six more times in an attempt to acquire the property. The thought of $1.6 million wasn’t met without temptation.
“We came to the decision after a few months. It took us a while,” Ralph said of their refusal to sell.
The Armstrongs were joined by the Blacks, Frenchs, Vander Zaags, Rutledges and Wallaces in their refusal to accept a cheque from the company owned by Baupost, a $25 billion United States-based hedge fund.
Highland's potato plan evolved into a new notion of developing a more than 2,300-acre aggregate quarry that would dig more than 200 feet below the water table.
“We spent a lot of sleepless nights wondering what was going to happen,” Ralph said.
However, the six farm owners became the catalyst for a campaign that would see Highland withdraw its quarry application last week, citing a lack of support as the cause for the project’s death.
In January 2009, months before the aggregate plan was public, the community met to form the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Task Force (NDACT).
“The community voted people to form a group to solicit more questions from the Highland Group of Companies,” said NDACT chair Carl Cosack. “We got together, NDACT was born and away to the races we are.”
By Bill Tremblay
Published in the "Orangeville Banner", Nov. 28, 2012
We owe them our gratitude for quarry battle (letter)
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- Published on Wednesday, 28 November 2012 23:20
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Dear editor,
As we celebrate Melancthon’s jubilation at the good news that the mega quarry is cancelled, I hope all of Ontario will extend their thanks to the farmers who planted the seeds that brought public awareness to this issue.
If you ever wondered where the expression, “the salt of the earth” came from ... visit Redickville.
On the fertile Honeywood silt loam fields that, until last week, were proposed for slaughter, you will find a handful of gentle, unassuming farm families, and their country loving neighbours. Quiet men and women, who stepped far beyond their comfort zones to protect Ontario’s greatest gifts — farmland and water.
They sounded the alarm when no one would listen. They lit the flares when they were told it was a “done deal.” This victory was not won by politicians or government, heck, for a long time it wasn’t even supported by them. This battle was won with hope, and heart, and a relentless voice that would not be stilled. A voice that repeated time and again, “This is wrong and we will stop it.”
And, it all began with a handful of locals six years ago; Ralph and Mary Lynne Armstrong, Dale and Carol Rutledge, the Vander Zaags, the Blacks, the Wallaces, the Cosacks, the Levers ... and they told two people and they told two people.
They formed the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce; local son and engineer Garry Hunter prepared an undisputable technical case for provincial officials; they organized meetings and events that caught the attention of the media; and last year the social justice group, Avaaz, collected 100,000 signatures on a petition to “Stop the Quarry.”
They lost friends and sleep, money and time, but they spoke the truth, and they rallied a township, a county and a province, to beat a corporation financed by one of the most successful hedge funds in the world. They saved the Headwaters.
These folks have reminded us of something incredible: each of us truly does have the power to make a difference. The Highland Companies still owns thousands of acres of Melancthon land, and the coveted limestone that perfects the soil, lies beneath it; we are faced with more mega turbines and threatened by power lines; the county is considering a gasification plant; and Dundalk is crying foul over human waste.
Keep your voices raised.
Marni Walsh, Melancthon
Letter to the Editor, Published in the "Orangeville Banner", Nov. 28, 2012
Mega quarry defeat is a lesson in activism
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- Published on Tuesday, 27 November 2012 20:00
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When the battle over the Melancthon mega quarry first came to light in early 2011, there didn’t seem much doubt about the outcome. On one side was a $25-billion Boston hedge fund and an international PR firm. On the other, a motley crew of concerned Ontario farmers. It was hard to imagine the U.S.-backed Highland Companies failing to get what it wanted: a massive limestone mine in the fertile farmland 100 km northwest of Toronto.
Yet last week the hedge fund conceded defeat to the amateur activists – an upset of David-and-Goliath proportions that holds at least three important lessons for environmentalists:
1.Tell a simple story
From the start, opposition to the mega quarry was based not just on the environmental impact of the proposed project, but also on the oft-repeated story of a then-nameless company, backed by a multi-billion-dollar hedge-fund, buying up swaths of farmland near Orangeville under the pretense of building a potato farm.
In fact, as we now know, the plan was to dig up more than 2,300 acres of bountiful farmland – and, incidentally, permanently impede the source waters of five pristine rivers – to build the largest open-pit mine in Canadian history. The project’s opponents understood that this story, simply told, made the mega quarry seem sinister and its opponents like helpless victims.
2. Form a diverse coalition
Had the quarry’s opponents been limited to the initial group of locals and farmers, the outcome likely would have been different. Instead, they quickly recruited native bands in the area, environmentalists across the country – including David Suzuki – and perhaps most decisively, the growing subculture of Toronto foodies and their celebrity chef leaders.
In this way, the movement broadened into a political force that couldn’t be ignored, eventually prompting the provincial government to launch an extensive environmental review of the project that may have been the last straw for Highland Companies.
3.Transcend NIMBYism
The movement’s key strength may have been its ability to explain to those not immediately affected by the project why they ought to care. The quarry’s opponents did that by hitching their cause to the thriving local food movement. Most Torontonians would never have directly experienced the environmental devastation wrought by the quarry, but the prospect of losing the source of so much delectable local produce, including nearly half of the city’s potato stock, was too steep a cost for many to accept.
With simple messaging, a broad coalition and a little political imagination, the opponents of the mega quarry beat the odds. Environmentalists take note.
"The Star" Editorial, Published Nov. 25, 2012
Key megaquarry opponent 'elated' by decision
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- Published on Tuesday, 27 November 2012 19:41
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The North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Task Force isn’t shutting down just yet.
NDACT’s Carl Cosak says he is elated, humbled and cautious about the announcement the Highland Companies made last Wednesday to withdraw its application to build a 2,300-acre limestone quarry in the Melancthon region.
Cosak, a farmer from the area, spearheaded the NDACT group and became one of the key opponents against the mega-quarry.
He gave speeches at protests, rallies, to students, to politicians, and to the media about the issues that he foresaw with the quarry. Cosak was concerned about what the quarry would do to the region north of Shelburne, an area he described as rich with potatoes, Brussels sprouts, peas, and rhubarb.
He said the Highland’s proposal stated the quarry would require pumping 600 million litres of water a day, which is considered enough fresh water for 2.7 million Ontarians daily. The traffic increase would have seen 3,600 tractor trailers coming to and from the quarry every day.
He said when Highland’s announcement came the rural community took a big breath, but they will continue to engage in farming as usual — and NDACT will continue to strive to change provincial policy.
Talking Points: "The little guys won"
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- Published on Saturday, 24 November 2012 15:32
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The Issue: In what has been dubbed a modern tale of David beating Goliath, farmers, urbanites and Melancthon Township residents celebrated this week after a U.S. hedge fund-backed company withdrew its application to dig a 2,300-hectare limestone mega-quarry in fertile potato-farming land north of Orangeville. The proposal was cancelled after more than six years of fierce, sustained protest across southern Ontario.
Local farmer John Herndon: “It’s a testimony to what can be done if people get together and exercise their democratic rights and obligations.”
Highland principal John Scherer, in a Globe and Mail interview: “In hindsight, we did not do a real good job of engaging the local community and the public at large about our project and about the benefits and how we would move the project forward. As a result, there is a lot of misinformation that was out there.”
Carl Cosack, a Melancthon rancher: “It’s a good day for me and thousands of other people who just poured their heart into this. The voice of the people — it’s starting to mean something again.”
Michael Stadtländer, chef, organizer of the Soupstock 2012 culinary protest event and president of the Canadian Chefs’ Congress: “We are ecstatic that the company has bowed to pressure and has committed to farming the land rather than blasting a huge open pit beneath our precious countryside.”
Melancthon Mayor Bill Hill: “We were a small township that most people couldn’t pronounce, let alone spell, a couple of years ago. Now we’re this national story. It’s like the little engine that could.”
Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda: “The little guys won. ... It did seem next to impossible for the company to make good on its claim that digging for aggregate would in no way adversely affect the other land-use activities in the area. The wind was blowing quite fiercely the entire time I was there. It seemed unlikely that digging for aggregate wouldn’t have sent dust blowing in every direction, harming the crops and water supply.”
Dale Rutledge, Melancthon farmer who was a key figure in the anti-quarry campaign: “Everything we did, I think we put a hole in them each time. ... The land is special. It’s my life I’m fighting for.”
Sasha Chapman, from an August feature in Toronto Life magazine on the fight against the quarry: “(Highland’s former president John Lowndes’) offers of up to $20,000 a hectare, even for unworkable land, were well above market value. His tactics were sometimes aggressive. Farmers claim he’d arrive unannounced with a cheque already written and an offer that would expire in 24 hours; he’d return again and again to badger those who refused to sell. (A Highland spokesperson denies the claims.)”
Lyle Parsons, a farmer who regretted selling his land to the Highland Companies, which later revealed it had plans to dig a quarry: “Perhaps I was a little naïve. Knowing what I know now, I never would have sold.”
Moreen Miller, CEO of the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, in a statement: “We were disappointed to hear that Highland has withdrawn its application. At a time when the province is investing money and resources into boosting the economy and building a better Ontario, this will come as a setback for Ontario families. The project would have created hundreds of jobs and helped meet the overwhelming need for infrastructure improvements in Ontario.”
By Sarah Barmak
Published in "The Star", Nov. 23, 2012
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1291645--talking-points-the-little-guys-won