The Environment Department has quashed a bid by Jamer Materials to expand its quarry in Charlotte County over concerns it could jeopardize the local watershed.

Jamer Materials has been crushing rock on the shore of the St. Croix River for more than a decade and was seeking to expand across the highway.

'It's about time that they did leave so the area can flourish and have year-round employment for the people of Charlotte County.'— John Craig, mayor of St. Andrews

Environment Minister Roland Hache said the quarry's expansion was denied because it would have endangered Chamcook Lake, which is the watershed that supplies the entire town of St. Andrews.

"Our decision is based on facts. And the fact is the expansion of the quarry would cause potential damage to the environment, to the lake. So we didn't take any chance at all," Hache said.

The company had argued that 38 jobs would be lost if it couldn't expand and continue its operations. Efforts to reach the general manager of Jamer Materials were unsuccessful.

"When you have the choice between jobs and the drinking water for a whole town and possibly for the expansion of the drinking water system to other places in the future, we couldn't afford that," Hache said.

Critics argued quarry not in public's interest

Critics of the project said the company has taken advantage of a deal that was not made in the public's interest and they say, it's time the company moved out.

St. Andrews Mayor John Craig said Jamer Materials was supposed to develop the Port of Bayside as an industrial park in 1997 and then move on.

But the quarry has remained and then came the recent application to expand.

Craig said the company has dominated the area making it too dirty and dusty for anyone else to move in. The mayor said he's glad that the expansion project won't go ahead.

"It's about time that they did leave so the area can flourish and have year-round employment for the people of Charlotte County," Craig said.

He said the town is dependent on tourism jobs, which would be greatly affected by a problem with the water supply.

Conservative MP Greg Thompson, who represents the area, said the decision to block an expansion of the quarry was inevitable.

"The proponents of the project and even the government … knew that announcing a full-blown quarry operation on the banks of an international river just wasn't going to fly with the people," Thompson said.