Wawa quarry can proceed. Joe Sniezek says so

In a 72-page decision released by Joe Sniezek, Sault Ste. Marie's former manager of long-range planning, the Ontario Municipal Board has given the green light to a controversial aggregates quarry near Michipicoten Harbour.

The OMB decision orders the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to issue an aggregates-extraction license to Superior Aggregates Company, allowing it establish a 12-hectare quarry. The company believes the property contains five million tonnes of material with a reserve life of 10 years, depending on market conditions.

It intends to build a processing facility nearby to crush, sort and screen the rock, which would then be stockpiled on the dock face for shipment via freighters or barges.

Ship traffic would be two to four ships a month, the company says.

Expected hours of operation will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with crushing activity limited to 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Blasting would be limited to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Superior Aggregates says blasting is expected to occur just two to four times a month.

When blasting is underway, a boat will warn watercraft in the area and detonations will occur only when there's no safety hazard to watercraft.

The company says it has no plans to move to a 24-hour operation during its first year of processing, and that any such decision would require a site-plan amendment with public notice and opportunity for comment.

The quarry edge would be about seven metres above the elevation of Lake Superior, set back between 57 metres and 157 metres from the lake.

The controversial project was opposed by Citizens Concerned for Michipicoten Bay, which pointed out that most of the aggregate would go to the United States and the quarry would adversely affect tourism, being located 4.8 kilometres from a provincial park and 6.5 kilometres from a protected area at the mouth of the South Michipicoten River.

The group argued that the scheme did not adequately protect the heritage and natural resources of Michipicoten Bay, including caribou and fish habitat.

It also expressed concern about the importance of preserving Lake Superior which - together with Russia's Lake Baikal - is one of the two largest bodies of fresh water in the world.

"The lake and its rugged coastline are a treasure and the number and extent of the provincial and national parks and nature reserves is a testament to how important the lake is to the citizens of Ontario and Canada," Sniezek wrote in the OMB decision.

However, he added:

************************* These facts do not in effect give the board or anyone else the right to say to a private land owner 'You live on a beautiful lake, give up your right to development so that we may maintain what we consider a pristine wilderness.'

Others might wish to apply the same standard to the existing cottage owners or the Superior Adventures Lodge. We wouldn’t do that and we should not do that to the Superior Aggregates Company.

The SAC proposal is hidden from the lake. The entrance to the quarry, now reduced from 30 metres to 20 metres, will be the only visual impact of the quarry on the lake. This intrusion, if you will, occurs along the disturbed face of the former wharf. There will be noise emanating from the quarry which will be heard by the neighbouring property owners but the noise levels will meet or exceed standards set out by the Ministry of the Environment.

On balance, the SAC proposal will not negatively impact the lake. Michipicoten Bay is not a wilderness as evidenced by the number of cottages and the historical industrial activity of the port that goes back more than one hundred years.

It should be noted that even the first peoples mined copper along the shores of Lake Superior so that mining activity has a long and significant history in Wawa and along the shores of Lake Superior.

The SAC proposal will involve change but that change will be managed within the policy framework set out by the province.

The residents expressed concerns that the impacts from shipping and release of blast waters might impact the bay. This is an area of concern to every citizen.

The release of invasive species into the Great Lakes is a matter of environmental concern.

The jurisdiction for this matter is the purview of the federal government. The board has no jurisdiction to regulate shipping activity on the bay but the SAC should work with the ships that it hires to attempt to ensure ballast waters are appropriately handled.

The board is satisfied that matters of noise, dust, lighting and blasting have been appropriately dealt with.

************************* The Ontario Municipal Board was critical of the Municipality of Wawa for forcing Citizens Concerned for Michipicoten Bay to use freedom of information law to obtain a copy of the relevant bylaw, pointing out that citizens have a right to copies of any legislative act of a municipal council.

It also criticized the municipality's refusal to delay passage of an official plan amendment to allow the province to provide comments.

Superior Aggregates Company is now expected to seek a partner for the project.