Little Dyke group assesses legal options

Province’s approval doesn’t sit well

A residents’ group from the Little Dyke Lake, Colchester County area is considering an appeal of the provincial government’s approval of the expansion of a nearby gravel pit operation.

“We believe the approval process is flawed, and that mistakes have been made in the review of Irving-Osco’s proposal,” said Ian MacFadden, spokesperson for the Glenholme-Little Dyke Residents Association in a release. “The province has not followed its own regulations in arriving at its decision last week. Our legal team advises us that we’re on firm legal ground as we contemplate a judicial review.”

Environment Minister Iain Rankin released his decision Thursday for the OSCO Aggregates Ltd., property in Glenholme, subject to a number of conditions including provisions aimed at protecting area watercourses, ground water sources, wetlands and erosion and sediment controls.

“Conditions laid out in the company’s prior approval (in 2007) were not consistently monitored or enforced by the provincial government,” said MacFadden. “We’ve looked for accountability on the part of the government, and we just haven’t been able to find it.”

The proposal calls for an expansion at Pit 4 of 30.5 hectares for the continued extraction and production of between 50,000 and 250,000 tonnes of aggregate per year in order to provide sand and stone required in Nova Scotia’s concrete production.

Project activities include extraction, screening, mobile crushing, stockpiling, and transport to the existing and previously approved Glenholme Wash Plant Facility.

The residents’ association is currently consulting with its lawyers to review its options.