FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLT Approves Nelson Quarry Expansion Despite Evidence of Serious Health, Safety and Environmental Risks

BURLINGTON, ON — August 20, 2026 — Conserving Our Rural Ecosystems (CORE) and Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL) are deeply disappointed by Tuesday’s Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) decision approving Nelson Aggregates’ 29-million-tonne expansion of its Mount Nemo open-pit limestone quarry. CORE/PERL maintain that the expansion is unnecessary and poses unacceptable risks to the health and safety of the Mount Nemo community, drinking water and a highly sensitive natural environment.

The five-month hearing heard evidence from 35 experts and residents and considered extensive technical evidence, legal arguments and motions. The Tribunal took approximately one year to issue its decision.

THE DECISION

CORE/PERL strongly disagrees with the Tribunal’s conclusion that the expansion is in the public interest and represents good land-use planning, particularly given the Tribunal’s acknowledgement of significant risks associated with the project. Among the central concerns  CORE/PERL raised are:

● Need for the expansion: Evidence before the Tribunal showed more than adequate close-to-market aggregate supply in Halton Region to meet projected demand. CORE/PERL is concerned that this evidence is not adequately reflected in the Tribunal’s conclusion that the expansion is in the public interest.

● Risks and unproven mitigation: The Tribunal acknowledged risks related to groundwater, blasting, dust, air quality and the natural environment, while relying heavily on future mitigation, monitoring and adaptive management to address them. CORE/PERL believes many of these measures remain unproven.

● Reliance on future oversight: The decision relies on Nelson and provincial regulators to monitor operations, identify problems and take corrective action if mitigation measures fail. CORE/PERL’s evidence raised concerns about Nelson’s history of monitoring, compliance, record-keeping and corrective action, while the Auditor General has identified significant weaknesses in Ontario’s inspection and enforcement of aggregate operations. There is no “shut down” mechanism, if mitigation fails.

● Reliability of evidence: CORE/PERL presented evidence challenging aspects of Nelson’s evidence, including testimony and information concerning dust events, mitigation effectiveness, procedural conduct and unauthorized access to private property. The Tribunal also found that one Nelson expert acted in “direct contravention” of procedural rules. CORE/PERL is concerned that the decision does not adequately address the broader questions this evidence raised.

At its core, CORE/PERL believes the decision asks the Mount Nemo community to accept significant risks now and rely on future mitigation and enforcement to address them later, despite the evidence that the need for the expansion has not been demonstrated.

“We are disappointed by the Tribunal’s decision because the evidence before it demonstrated both a lack of need for this expansion and serious risks to the community and natural environment,” said Gord Pinard, President of CORE Burlington. “The Tribunal has acknowledged many of those risks, but we believe approving the expansion on the expectation that future plans, monitoring and enforcement will address them is not a sufficiently precautionary approach. The community deserves protection that is demonstrated, not protection that is promised.” Nelson lost the community’s trust a long time ago.

THE EVIDENCE BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL

CORE/PERL brought extensive technical and expert evidence before the Tribunal concerning the potential impacts of the expansion, including groundwater, blasting, air quality, dust, wetlands, natural heritage and the proposed groundwater infiltration system. The proposed groundwater recharge system is of particular concern. Nelson proposes to introduce untreated quarry settling-pond water into the aquifer that supplies area drinking-water wells and surrounding ecosystems, including the Medad Valley ANSI. The Tribunal acknowledged that the system is unproven, while relying on future testing, monitoring and adaptive management to manage the associated risks.

CORE/PERL also presented evidence concerning Nelson’s current operating and compliance record, including concerns about monitoring deficiencies, regulatory violations, blasting safety protocols and whether previous mitigation commitments have resulted in lasting operational improvements.

The hearing further raised questions about the reliability of evidence provided by Nelson’s witnesses. CORE/PERL believes these issues are relevant to whether the safeguards proposed for the expansion can reasonably be relied upon to protect the community and environment.

WHAT THIS DECISION MEANS FOR MOUNT NEMO

Mount Nemo is home to a Highly Vulnerable Aquifer groundwater system, provincially significant wetlands, important natural heritage features and endangered species, including the Jefferson Salamander. It is also home to hundreds of residents and forms part of the Niagara Escarpment and Greenbelt.

For CORE/PERL, the issue is not whether the risks exist. The evidence shows that they do, and the Tribunal’s own decision acknowledges many of them. The question is whether those risks should be imposed on the community when the need for the expansion has not been demonstrated and the safeguards intended to manage them remain largely unproven.

After evaluating the decision, CORE/PERL believes it effectively and improperly puts a “blank cheque” and “trust me” system in place:

• Trust Nelson to monitor its operations, identify problems and correct them, despite evidence raising concerns about its history of monitoring, compliance and corrective action.
• Trust regulators to detect failures and enforce the rules, despite the Auditor General’s findings regarding weaknesses in Ontario’s aggregate inspection and enforcement system.
• Trust unproven mitigation measures to protect drinking water, air quality, public safety and the natural environment, with their effectiveness to be demonstrated after the expansion is underway.

David Donnelly, one of Canada’s leading environmental lawyers representing CORE and PERL, said the decision raises fundamental concerns about how future environmental and public-safety risks are being addressed.

“The decision effectively asks the community to accept risks now and rely on future data collection, mitigation and enforcement to address them later, despite the evidence showing why those safeguards cannot simply be assumed to work, as well as the disturbing reality that there was fabrication of evidence regarding in the Imperial Oil frac-out,” said Donnelly. “When the potential consequences include impacts to safe drinking water, public safety and an irreplaceable natural environment, the planning process exists to confront those risks before they are imposed on the community.”

The decision also raises a broader question about how Ontario manages its aggregate resources: Is aggregate simply a private commodity to be extracted wherever it is commercially viable, or is it a non-renewable public resource that must be managed alongside other public interests including, but not limited to, farmland, groundwater, wetlands, species habitat and the health and safety of communities?

CORE/PERL believe that question deserves a much closer look.

The organizations remain deeply concerned about the implications of the OLT decision for Mount Nemo and for how Ontario assesses and regulates quarry expansions. They are reviewing the 130-page decision and considering their next steps, including appeal.

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