These are the beautiful mediaeval fishponds so integral to the setting of Grade I Cadhay.
Earlier this month we posted that DGT were concerned AI’s plans could turn Cadhay’s fishponds "into a quagmire". The fishponds are directly downstream of where Aggregate Industries wants to quarry for sand and gravel at Straitgate Farm. What could possibly go wrong?
It's not just mediaeval fishponds.
The photo below is of Cadhay Bog. This ancient woodland is a wetland habitat also reliant on water from Straitgate. It's a remnant of prehistoric woodland or 'wildwood' that colonised Britain after the last Ice Age.
Cadhay Bog is again directly downstream of AI’s sand and gravel quarry plans at Straitgate Farm. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty:
Only last week, silt-laden water from a frac-sand quarry in Wisconsin left a trail of destruction after one of the ponds was breached in order to rescue a worker who drove a bulldozer into a pond. Accidents happen.
We’ve heard a lot about how the mining companies could engineer solutions to any possible disasters or any possible outcomes and all this proves is there’s no way to engineer a solution that will prevent a human error
AI has also had problems in the US and has been fined $2.75 million, "the largest ever assessed to a nationwide ready-mix concrete company", for storm water violations.
Holcim – the "planet-trasher" – has repeatedly been fined for pollution offences in the US.
Do accidents only happen in the US? Of course not:
A Derbyshire quarry company was fined £40k and £2m clean-up cost after a lagoon burst its banks flooding 50 homes and polluting a 30-mile stretch of the River Derwent with contaminated waste.Ibstock Bricks was fined £33k after discharge from Knutton Quarry polluted a 3.5km stretch of watercourse.Imerys Minerals was fined £75k after polluting a river in Cornwall.Interserve Construction was fined £60k after discharging silt-laden water into a Sussex river.A Devon quarry turned the River Teign red with pollution.A County Tyrone quarry was fined £13k for polluting a river.Mick George was fined £20k after its quarry polluted brooks near a SSSI site.A Northern Ireland quarry operator was fined £14k after discharging silt into watercourse.
Accidents happen. And not just in quarries. Anywhere where there's earth moving equipment:
Aberdeen Roads Ltd was fined £280k after silt caused by heavy rainfall polluted a river.Harron Homes was fined £120k after silt from a construction site polluted a nearby watercourse.Miller Homes was fined £100k after silt from a construction site polluted a beauty spot.Even in East Devon, fuel leaked into watercourses after an excavator caught fire.
Accidents happen. Well, they aren't always accidents:
Lafarge Aggregates was fined £14k for repeatedly taking more water than it was licensed to take from the River Yare, on one occasion 900% more.
As one campaigner said, pointing to an incident where Aggregate Industries was fined £13k after operating plant without authorisation:
"This shows the sort of people we are dealing with. To be in breach of environmental legislation reinforces public opinion that Aggregate Industries cannot be trusted."
An article in the quarry press, Water Pollution Wake-Up Call, reckons that:
Thames Water’s recent £20.3 million fine for polluting the environment represents a wake-up call not only for the UK’s municipal water industry, but also for anyone in the quarrying industry involved in pumping water off site and releasing it into the environment.
Although the magnitude of the fines for pollution incidents has been increasing following the introduction of new sentencing guidelines in 2014, the judgement against Thames Water established a new framework against which future fines will be set.
The 2014 Guidelines set out a standardized approach in which sentences for a pollution event are determined on the basis of not only the significance of the incident, but also the size of the company and the degree of corporate culpability.
A typical pollution incident from a quarry causes discolouration of the water, smothering of the riverbed and, potentially, the death of aquatic species. In recent court cases quarrying companies have been fined £15,000 and £35,000 for discharging silt-laden water off site, and one particular company was told by the judge that if a repeat incident occurred from the quarry in question, or another of the company’s quarries, it would be considered to be a deliberate act and so any future fine would be significantly greater.
How big a risk is water pollution within quarrying?
Most quarries have excess water to dispose of back to the environment...
And accidents will happen. If quarrying took place at Straitgate, we would be entrusting the wellbeing of Cadhay's mediaeval fishponds and ancient woodland – irreplaceable assets – into the hands of a profit-hungry multinational. If that doesn't scare people, then they are not thinking hard enough.
