8/4/2019 BEWARE PRIVATE WATER SPECULATORS: Planned Ontario mega-quarry threatens crucial water rupply

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&[!VARE PRIVATT. WATER SPECULATO-RS:

Planned Ontario mega-quarry threatens crucial water rupplBy loyce Ne/son

anything thaf scares many Canadians .tnese Aiys, it's the corporate sector 'The,p-ropOld quarry whiChmerssing with cur water. would he the second largert

Hills of the Headwaters in North America' lies over

rn 2006, the Highrand companies,

f;:"1*;JX-JllTS:epresented by civil engineer ]ohnLowndes, starter] buving up properties rlver ryrtems that are drink-in .the Melancthon' orlu,'eve*ually ing Water,SOUrCet fOf mOfeaccumulating 8,500 acresr:f farmland- than a million people."purportcdly for grorving potatoes. But,

-f Tedge fund manager and bijlionaire Seth Klarman

H reiortedly has a cJuticus approach to risk-assessrnent

I l*i,*n investing for the Auopott Croup of hedge

funds. The }frar York Tirnes (May 13, 2007) quoted Boston-

based Klarman: 'At Baupost, ws are big fans of fear, and ininvesti.ng, it is clearl3r better to be scared than sorry."

It's a philosophy that envircrnmentalists share -it's

called the precauticnary principle -and one that's useful in

cr:nsidering the mega-quarry (backed by the Baupost Croup)

that is planned fi:r the Ontario Township of Melancthorylocated 1tl0 km north of Tcrronto.

We agree: It'$ better to be scared than sorrp and if there's

after the company started drilling in the area, local people

became suspicious and began organizing. Highland Companies

calls itself an "investment vehicle for a group r:f private investors

based in Canada and the United States." One of those investors

is the B;rupost Group which manage$ $23 billion in assets for

40 rvealthy families and the Harvard Endowment.

In 2009, Highland revealed plans forthe mega-quarry at a

putrlic meeting ln March 2011, HighLand filed its applicationwith the {Jntaris: Ministry of Natural Resources {MNR) to

sxcarrarte ?,400 acres of prime agricultural land located at

the headwaters of five rnajor rivers. When completed" the

mega-quarry N'ould be the second largest quarry in NorthAmerica. It would extend 200 feet below the water table, withthe company pumping cut 600 million litres of groundwater

daily in order to excavate the aggregates (rock and gravel)

used to make concrete.

Financial analysts have recently noted thatneither potato

farming nor aggregate mining is typical of Baupostinvesting.

As one analysf told Busiress ltrsitler $uly 13), "It just doesn't

seem like Klarman's syle.""This area is called the Hills of the Headwaters for a

reason," says local farmer Carl Cosack a member of the North

Dufferin Agricultural Community Task Force (NDACTF),

wfiich is fighting the quarry. "I can't believe that the provincial

Sclvernment will allor,r" anv partv, let alone a U.S. hedge fund,

ta take some of the best agrictrltural land in Ontario out of

productir:r'r, nor risk tampering with a water supply that

could affect oyer a million people downstream served by

these watercr)u.rses."

The proposed quarry lies over the Amabel-Lockport-

Cuelph aquifer, which ftxms the headwaters of five rnaior

The (PA Monitar 8

river system$ * the Pine, the Grand, the Nottalvasaga,

Saugeen, and the Beaver - that are drinking r,r"ater sourc

for more than a million people.In order to keep the quarry operational, the ccmpa

would have to pump 500 million litres of water per dav frothe quarry and store it for three days to reduce sediment, th

pump it back into the waterways. This u'ould mean Highlawould be handling about 1".8 billion litres per day a hu

amount of water. As Carl Cosack told Ileffer Farming (l29), "This raises a lot of concerns in a lot of different area

According to the Orangeaille. Citizen (July 28), "Highlasays it will install a system of ba*al trenches, sumps a

purnp$ to ensure that the 600,000 cu

metres [of waterJ tobe used daiiy by

quarry will not cause undue stre$$

the water table."

Complicating the issues, in 20

Highland agreed to buy a r:ail l

between Orangeville and Mississaugand (as of April 2011) was negotiatpurchase of a DufferinCounty rail rig

of-way to the port of Owen Sr:und,

the Great Lakes. Although the conrpa

has insisted that no forergn markets for quarry aggregate

planned" then-company spokesman Michael Daniher i n M

said fhat "the company has designed the proposed quasuch that, should rail become available at some point, ii co

form part of the transportation mix."UndertheOntario Aggregate Resources Act, the compa

needs only a licence from the MNR to proceed. Oppone

are calling for a full envircnmental aesessment {EA).

NAFTAS Chapter 11

First Nations and other organi zaiions have joined the NDAC

in opposing trhe mega-quany, including the Citizens'Allianfor a Sustainable Environment (CAUSE), the Sierra Club,

Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, and the Council of Canadian

Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadian

addressed some of the concerns in a recent letter to Cr

Laing, Aggregate Resources Qfficer in the MNR. She wro

"Because the construction company fHighlandl is back

by the Baupost Group, a Boston-based multi-billion-dol

hedge fun4 it iikely has NAFTA rights to suethe Canad

government if, at any time after the contract has been sign

any level of government changes its mind on the proiect

attempts to limit damage to fhe land and water of the a

by imposing new restrictions on the company's operation

'As well, NAFTI(s Chapter 1.1 gives American corporatic

operating in Candda the right to claim the water sources th

use in their operations. The Canadian gcrvernment rece

arvarded the American pulp and paper c{rmpany Bowa

Abitibi $125 miliion in compensation fo the water fand tirnb

it no longer uses after it voluntarily abandoned its operat(Continued on Pag

September2

8/4/2019 BEWARE PRIVATE WATER SPECULATORS: Planned Ontario mega-quarry threatens crucial water rupply

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NAFTA protects U.5. firm's access to our water, once given(Continued from Poge 8)

":t "

in Newfoundtand. this p"y*ent has Ontario mega-quirry become more CEO and chair of the Ontario Cle

set a dangerous precedent that could questionable when congdering the PR Water Agency (1997-2000) under Mbe repeated in the case of this quarry if, firms involved with and/Baupost. Harris. Willis also served previously

pravincial Assi*tant Deputy Minis(ADM) of Northern Development a

Mines and the Ministry of Emrirtrnme

and Energy.

WhileHill &

Knowlton's involvment in the mega-quarry indicates tHighland/Saupost is ramping upeffortg itpobably took only the brief

of calls to involve them. Paul Curleya forms vice-ch*ir of Hilt & KnowliCanada.

Paul Curley's current compaAdvance Planning & CommunicatioInc., is the Canadian subsidi.aryanother global PR firm: ManniSelvage & Lee (M$&L). AccordingTh*Holmes Report {Nov. 25 2010), tr

current clients of MS&L are Coca-Coand Nestld - two of the biggest watbottling companies on the planet.

Nestl6 has long been sucking wa

from Michigan aquifers {leicatedprivate land) that feed the Great Lak

and has stirred up controversy in at le

six other U.S. states while lonkingwater. Recently (May 10), PeterBra6ec

chair of Nestl6, told Reuters thatsupports selling water on exchangejust like any commodity. '{We a

activ€ly dealing with the governmeof Alberta to think about a waexchangel' Brabeck said, promptidenials from Alberta EnvironmeMinister Rob Renner. Nonethelecritics say that propored changesprovincial water acts in both Albeand B.C, would leadtob watermark

While Highland/Baupost cou

certainly make billions selling aggreg

for Ontaricr censtruction, Seth Klarmmay well have his eye on anoth

"commoditSr" under MelancthTownship land,' Through.the PR firms invclveHighland/Baupost has links to bothe Conservative and Liberal partiIn the forthcoming October 6 provincelectiorL voters may wish to make thown risk"asse$sments and votesomeone else.

(loyce Nelson is a freelnnce writresearcher snd the author o/fue boolis.)

September 2