Blasting that took place on Monday and Tuesday last week at a County Road 8 quarry just outside of Napanee, Ont., has nearby residents concerned.
The owners, Al White Landscaping and Excavating, circulated a letter to the area homeowners on May 12, advising the residents that the blasting would be taking place.
Don Eddington has lived across the street from the quarry for 22 years.
He says the quarry has been active and inactive at various times, but says the intensity of the blasting has increased since the current owners purchased the quarry a few years ago.
“It was never this big before when Morley McFarland originally owned this place,” Eddington said. “The quarry across the road he was a small one-man operation.”
Tori Rivenbark lives a few doors down County Road 8 from Eddington and says the controlled explosion startled her, but that’s the least of her worries.
“We’re concerned about the dust, the debris, the traffic, the noise, the safety, the depreciation of the value of our house,” Rivenbark said.
Eddington adds he has one other issue he’s apprehensive about.
“First and foremost it’s about our wells.”
Eddington has spoken to and compiled a list of about 20 other residents that share his and Rivenbarks concerns.
He says his concerns aren’t entirely unfounded, claiming he had well issues two years ago when similar blasting took place at the quarry.
“I had no water coming out of my well, fired the prime out of it for 24 hours to get my well back and when I did, there was a lot of sludge and mud and silt and everything,” he said.
Eddington says he never had well issues before the blasting in 2018.
“With the activity that’s going on across the road now i’m already starting to find silt coming up out of my well again.”
Aaron White is overseeing the quarry operation and spoke to Global Kingston on the phone, saying they are in full compliance with all rules and regulations.
White says they have all the proper permits to conduct the blasting have hired a professional company to do the work.
The operation is also inspected annually by the Ministry of Natural Resources according to White.
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