Fogarty's Cove Quarry

Publication Date: 
February 3, 2016

The Fogarty's Cove (AKA Black Point) Quarry in GuysborouFogarty's Covegh County is a large export quarry which will have major impacts on the landscape, seascape, and other industries such as tourism and fishing.

Fogarty's Cove is memorailized in a famous song written by Canadian folk legend, Stan Rogers. In a cruel irony, the land owned by the Fogarty family was expropriated from them by the muncipality in order to make the quarry possible, destroying the beauty celebrated in Stan Roger's song.

Because of the scale of the project - which will result in 180 hectares of land being quarried, the destruction of wetland systems, 90-120 large bulk carriers travelling to a relatively pristine coastline every year, and operations lasting 50 years - we asked for this project to receive the highest level of enviornmental assessment possible, an arms-length review panel. This request was refused.

We participated in the lower level of environmental assessment required for the quarry (a joint assesment carried out by federal and provincial authorities), raising concerns about impacts on the watershed, marine life (especially the introduction of marine invasive species and impacts on marine mammals), and the lack of incorporation of community knowledge in assessing the ecological significance of the region.

We also recommended an arms-length consultative planning process that could weigh the costs and benefits of the quarry against existing and potential sustainable development opportunities.

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