Concerns raised over quarry approved near Bridgewater, N.S.

An environmental group is asking the Nova Scotia government to quash the approval of a small quarry in a Lunenburg County watershed it hopes will be designated a wilderness area. 

George Buranyi, with the Bridgewater Watershed Protection Alliance, said a group member phoned him late last year wondering why a logging road within the Petite Riviere watershed was being widened. He said he was shocked to learn the road was being upgraded for a quarry that had already been approved by the province's Environment Department.

"There's a lot of interest in protecting the designated watershed," said Buranyi in an interview with CBC News. 

Buranyi said the alliance wants the area, a water source for the Town of Bridgewater and Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, to be designated a wilderness area due to its ecological significance. 

Both municipalities have previously expressed support for the wilderness area designation and last week passed motions asking the province to review the quarry approval. 

"When you look at the risk, any risk, you have to kind of weigh that against the reward," Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell said in an interview with CBC News.

Environment Minister Tim Halman said at a media availability on Thursday that he was not aware of the wilderness area application for the Petite Riviere watershed.

The Houston government has outlined a goal to have 15 per cent of the province's lands protected by 2026. Currently about 13.47 per cent of land and water is protected in Nova Scotia, according to Halman. 

"I'm always looking at analyzing the next batch of protected areas that come before me. So I know it's a priority to residents and that's why we legislated that target," he said. 

Compliant quarry 

As for the quarry, Halman said Gerald W. Veinot Excavation is compliant with the terms and conditions of the industrial approval received in May 2024. 

"Industrial approval is one tool we use to protect the environment and human health," Halman said. 

The environmental assessment process, which the government is working to modernize, does not apply to quarries less than four hectares like the one in the watershed. 

Gavin Giles, a lawyer who spoke on behalf of Gerald W. Veinot Excavation, said the business provides aggregate for construction projects, including to the Town of Bridgewater. He said the company's current quarry in Waterloo, N.S., is running out of material, and the new quarry inside the watershed would allow them to continue the family business. 

"They feel, quite frankly, put upon and treated unfairly by those who want to criticize them simply because they followed the approval that's required of them by the government," Giles said. 

"I think those who want to criticize should respect the fact that they are ordinary people doing ordinary things, not bad people doing bad things." 

Rare species 

The department's approval of the quarry is superseded by provincial and federal legislation that protects species at risk. 

The three lakes within the watershed are the last surviving natural habitat for the endangered Atlantic whitefish, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 

Sarah Deller, with the species at risk program at DFO, said an extremely small population remains in the wild, and they are under threat from predators such as chain pickerel and smallmouth bass. 

Deller said the endangered classification prohibits the Atlantic whitefish from being killed, harmed, harassed, captured, bought, sold or traded. She said it is also illegal to destroy critical habitat. 

"Land-based activities such as quarries and mines are identified as a potential threat to Atlantic whitefish if not effectively mitigated," she said.

"There are a number of review processes under both provincial and federal legislation and regulations that allow for projects to be reviewed to ensure that they can proceed without destroying critical habitat." 

Buranyi said whitefish are not the only species of note in the watershed. He said surveys in conjunction with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society have found about 20 at risk species. 

"If you eliminate those species, you can't get them back," he said. "And so again, there are so many other places in this province to extract that material. Why must it be in a watershed?"