●➤ Health worries over quarry plan,
Residents of Templeton could have their quiet corner of Canterbury shattered by a new quarry. Dominic Harris examines the issues and whether they have grounds for concern.
In a shaded barn at the bottom of her garden, Narrell Chand carefully stacks clumps of garlic on bales of hay to dry them out ready for sale in Christchurch’s supermarkets.
Her plot of land on Maddisons Rd near Templeton is quiet, a haven away from the hustle and bustle of the city in the distance.
But a huge new quarry planned for opposite her home could shatter that peace – and ruin her business.
Construction firm Fulton Hogan wants to develop the 170-hectare site so it can supply aggregate for infrastructure projects, potentially quarrying the land for 40 years.
The possibility has left residents horrified, fearing for their health and worried about noise, traffic and the effect on housing.
For Chand, the threat of the proposal has had immediate repercussions.
‘‘We were going to build a house here this year. That was all going to start in February but I’ve had to go back to the developer and tell them our plans are on hold until the quarry is settled.
‘‘We’re not going to be able to build here if that quarry goes ahead and we’re going to have to sell our land.’’
The mooted site sits on the border of Christchurch city and the Selwyn, a block framed by Dawsons, Curraghs and Maddisons roads.
The area is not densely populated – other than a handful of houses there is only a Buddhist temple nearby, a motor caravan park and a few businesses.
But residents are fiercely protective of their corner of Canterbury, and last week around 200 packed into Templeton’s St Saviour’s Church to discuss their concerns.
Perhaps chief among them is the nuisance of having homes coated with dust and the potential danger from airborne crystalline silica, a toxic byproduct from quarrying that can trigger pulmonary issues, in some cases cause the lung disease silicosis and, rarely, cancer.
Ian Shaw, a professor of toxicology at the University of Canterbury, says there is ‘‘no question’’ there are health risks from breathing dust.
‘‘Silica dust is the key health concern, and the likelihood of siliceous dust getting into the air from quarrying is very high.
‘‘You can’t do anything about it but there are certainly implications for your health. Most certainly the risk of pulmonary disorders will go up, simply because you will be breathing in some dust.’’
The danger is from minute particles that can get into the lungs, Shaw says, not necessarily the infuriating dust that has coated the homes of some residents living near quarries in west Christchurch.
The risk can be mitigated by spraying things with water to dampen them, stopping dust getting airborne so it cannot be inhaled.
Shaw is at pains to emphasise the low chances of developing silicosis from quarry dust, suggesting the level of exposure required is likely to be similar to that of a career miner in early 20thcentury England.
‘‘If you just walk down a road and have a quick breathe of some dust you’re not going to then develop silicosis and then cancer and die.
‘‘The only way that you get the effects [is] by prolonged exposure. There is very great evidence to show the link between exposure and health effects, and an equivalent amount of data to show that the exposure has to be for a very long period of time.
‘‘The length of exposure is important, but we don’t really know how long that exposure has to be. What we do know is that very long exposures cause the problem.’’
Whether concerns about silica dust about are justified will soon become apparent – Environment Canterbury (ECan) has just started monitoring air quality around Yaldhurst to examine the dangers. First results are expected in March.
FUELLING THE REBUILD
About 1100 quarries are dotted across New Zealand. The industry is a financial powerhouse, supporting 10,000 jobs.
Some 39 million tonnes of aggregate – gravel for building projects – was quarried in 2015, the equivalent of 8.5 tonnes for every New Zealander, or nearly a truck load each. That product earned $502m in direct revenue and was worth $2.1 billion to the economy, according to the Aggregate and Quarry Association (AQA).
There are 23 existing or proposed quarry sites around Christchurch – excluding the one at Dawsons Rd – run by 15 companies. The bulk are clustered at three sites around Pound Rd and Miners Rd near Yaldhurst and at Mcleans Island, all to the west of the city.
Their location is based on geology. The Canterbury Plains are made of old gravel river beds, which rise to the surface in the land around Yaldhurst and Templeton, making it suitable for quarrying.
Following the earthquakes of 2010 and
2011 activity at those quarries has intensified to help the rebuild.
‘‘Some have applied for extensions and some are operating within the resource consent of what they’ve already got, but their lifespans have been shortened,’’ ECan regional leader compliance delivery James Tricker says.
‘‘Pre-earthquake that may have been
20 years but because of the earthquake it may only be five years.’’
AQA chief executive Roger Parton says there has not been a proliferation of quarries around Christchurch since the earthquakes.
‘‘What I can say is that obviously since the earthquake and the rebuild there has been an increasing demand for aggregate.
‘‘It is used in concrete, in construction – roads, hospitals, schools, cell phone towers, shops, houses. Everything that is built uses concrete, and everything concrete uses aggregates.
‘‘If you don’t have aggregates you don’t have any building whatsoever.’’
Quarry locations are hards to find, he says.
‘‘You have to dig where the rock is, you can’t just go and dig somewhere because you think it looks nice.’’
And while many people would prefer quarries to be confined to the countryside, Parton says that places a financial burden on the industry which is then passed to customers.
‘‘When you move aggregates from wherever the quarry is to wherever it is going to be used the cost of the aggregates double in the first 30 kilometres covered.
‘‘That is then passed on to the consumer, which may be central government or local government.’’
A GOOD NEIGHBOUR?
That argument is one of a number put forward by Fulton Hogan to justify its proposed new site. The company operates three sites in the Greater Christchurch area and wants to develop Dawsons Rd as a replacement for its Pound Rd quarry, which has a remaining lifespan of five years, and to contribute to the estimated 180 million tonnes of aggregate needed in Canterbury by 2041.
In a brochure given to residents it says the site, which it wants to use for between 25 and 40 years, is ideal because ‘‘it has few neighbours and is close to State Highway 1’’.
But the NZ Transport Agency says the intersection between Jones Rd and Dawsons Rd – the latter is where Fulton Hogan would like the quarry entrance – is Canterbury’s most dangerous road junction. In the last five years six crashes have killed one person and seriously injured seven.
The company says it is ‘‘committed to being a good neighbour’’ and has promised to mitigate the impact of increased truck movements and dust contamination.
A Fulton Hogan spokeswoman says: ‘‘We monitor the potential for dust generation, and use a range of mitigation measures including limiting the amount of area we open for extraction at any one time, enclosing certain parts of our process, sealing roadways, using watercarts to suppress dust and planting berms and marginal areas.
‘‘We are aware of some concerns in the community over our proposal and we are very open to hearing what residents have to say.
‘‘It is still early days in our planning for our resource consent applications and we want to share information about our plans with the community and be as transparent as possible.
‘‘We look forward to working with them to find the most constructive solutions possible.’’
The company has told residents it will not lodge its consent application to ECan and the Selwyn District Council (SDC) until at least May. But there are concerns it may be heard behind closed doors and that the type of application could preclude residents from lodging objections. SDC planning manager Jesse Burgess says council officers assess whether or not an application should be heard in public and allow feedback, a decision which depends on the degree of adverse effects associated with the proposal.
‘‘If the effects extend beyond the adjacent properties under the Resource Management Act and there are more than minor adverse effects then potentially there is the need for public notification.’’
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Fulton Hogan’s soothing words are unlikely to offer much assurance to people like Narrell Chand.
While the reality of a quarry is a long way off, the people of Templeton are quietly marshalling support to oppose it. They already have supporters in the form of residents’ groups, community boards and politicians.
Amy Adams, National MP for Selwyn, has championed people affected by quarries in Yaldhurst and will meet those living near the Dawsons Rd site next week.
‘‘Our experience has been that despite all of the reassurances and promises of the consent conditions, the actual experience is that dust is not generally well controlled,’’ she says.
‘‘In my view the consent conditions are not robustly enforced and monitored by the various consent authorities. ‘‘Given the history with quarrying and the very real effect it has had on residents with breathing issues, health issues, with nuisance, it is a significant issue for residents and I can understand why they would be concerned.
‘‘I’m fully supportive of quarries being in place but I’m really concerned about the proximity to residential properties and the adequacy of the monitoring and enforcement.’’
Not everyone living nearby will oppose the quarry but for many there is a clear call to arms.
If mobilising for battle is their uncomfortable present, the story of Anna Youngman offers them a glimpse of a possible future.
Youngman, who lives on Old West Coast Road near the Miners Rd quarries, says she and a neighbour have developed symptoms of silicosis after being exposed to dust and spoke at the meeting last week to warn residents.
Advised to wear a mask to save her health, she says she has spent $1400 to have her home cleaned of silica dust after promises to do so from ECan and the Christchurch City Council never materialised.
‘‘I still wake up breathless. I was getting so breathless, my eyes were watering most mornings.
‘‘They are crushing shingle and this invisible dust comes in, and it really is very toxic.’’
While she concedes it is difficult to prove her problems are due directly to the quarrying, she is adamant there are dangers.
‘‘When you wake up and you have blood in your mouth it’s really very serious. It’s just a terrible situation.
‘‘I want the residents to know what they might be in for. I don’t want it to happen to anyone.’’
And Professor Shaw had a message that no one in Templeton will want to hear. Asked what he would do if he lived on Dawsons Rd, he said simply: ‘‘I’d try and move.’’
‘‘We’re not going to be able to build here if that quarry goes ahead and we’re going to have to sell our land.’’
Narrell Chand