Stone Ridge Quarry Project

I strongly object to the Australian Development Resource Group's proposed Stone Ridge Quarry that would destroy 140ha of occupied Koala, Squirrel Glider and Phascogale habitat in the Wallaroo State Forest.
There is no justification for the clearing that this project entails ,that would see the destruction of four Endangered Ecological Communities.
The Department of Climate Change and Water have also identified likely impacts on the vulnerable Grey-headed flying fox, the critically endangered Swift Parrot, the endangered Spotted -tail Quoll, the vulnerable Yellow-bellied Glider, the vulnerable New Holland mouse and the vulnerable South Eastern Glossy Black Cockatoo.
It is tragic to think that all this irreplaceable nature could be sacrificed for road base and cement.
Please do not allow this project to proceed.

I fully support the application.
I currently work in the quarry/civil space and have first hand experience of why this development is essential.
Quarry supply is extremely limited, causing increased costs, delays and workload to both suppliers and end users.
Significant infrastructure projects have been awarded in the Hunter area, with no additional material supply approved. There have been official reports produced of the amount of supply currently available from the current sources, however what this report does not take into account is the specific types of materials required in the industry, the current output of the quarries (which is limited due to various factors including, labour shortages, limited stockpile room, consent conditions required prior to increased tonnes out the gate). There are 3 hard rock quarries in the lower hunter that will supply all concrete, asphalt, Heavily Bound, DGB/DGS, these quarries supposedly total an output of approximately 5,500,000t p.a., however the actual is approximately 2,450,000t p.a. less than half of the "report".
What happens to all the small businesses, local civil companies, councils who all rely on these materials for the better of our community, who will be forgotten in the hype of major projects?

A state forest is not suitable for a quarry the size and scale of that proposed for Stone Ridge Quarry.
Proposing that native state forests become large-scale quarries instead of sustainably managed forests is not ecologically sustainable forest management. The proposal will destroy 79 hectares of native state forest held in trust for the public.
This threatens koalas and other threatened wildlife.
The quarry section of Wallaroo State Forest directly connects with Wallaroo National Park and is part of a regional fauna corridor with broader connection to the Karuah National Park, Medowie State Conservation Area, and Medowie Nature Reserve.
Please do not approve this quarry.

I object to the proposed Stone Ridge Quarry project. It's destroying the habitat for native animals you can't find anywhere else. And they could just find rock somewhere else, like a barren desert without much animal species instead of a lush state forest of plants, trees and animals. I am ten years old and I want to protect the native life we have. This is where I live and I want to protect my home and the koalas too.

I object to the proposal for the Stone Ridge Quarry Project (SSD-10432) for the following reasons.
• Loss of natural habitat and biodiversity (consider including details of endangered species included in the EIS). You can also find a copy of those listed on the Save Balickera Facebook page.
• Vastly increased traffic resulting in noise, road damage and safety implications
• Noise Vibration and dust from blasting and impact on buildings, animals and mental health.
• Loss of air quality and associated health concerns
• Pollution of surface and ground water
• Change to the ambience and character of rural living
• Loss of natural and cultural heritage
I also object for the loss of use for recreational and sporting reasons eg 4WD, dog tracking, motorbike riding, orientation, bush walking, and bird watching.
I would appreciate if you could please acknowledge receipt of this submission
Regards

I object to this proposal for the following reasons.
1. This proposed, extensive annihilation of crucial habitat and biodiversity is senseless. Complete destruction of threatened ecological communities and displacement of all wildlife, especially endangered wildlife is irreversible.
2. The impact of the dust and associated health risks with reduced air quality will have a major impact on neighbouring communities and wildlife alike.
3. Noise from blasting & vibrations will also affect neighbouring communities and wildlife.
4. Increased traffic on already appalling roads will pose significant risks to all who use them, displaced wildlife are at greater risk of death
5. Pollution of surface and ground water will impose long term affects on the environment and again, will affect all wildlife.
And lastly, I oppose this because it’s a State Forest. It was declared a State Forest because it is a significant area - why destroy this significant area for another quarry??

We are extremely worried about the effects of this quarry will have on our standard of living and health,we feel the dust will contaminate our drinking water and the surface runoff will affect the quality of water in our dams, noise impact from stone crushing is already impacting us from the existing quarry, especially for my husband as he is a shift worker, so having another directly opposite will be much worse! Our grandchildren also live on our property and their health and lifestyle should also be taken into account ,traffic is also another big issue! having lived on this property for over 40 years (which is part of a family property since the 1930s )we feel this project will be an intrusion of our lifestyles and the destruction of the natural environment in the forest opposite needs much closer scrutiny, on top of the above the wildlife in the area will be severely impacted by this encroachment! Should the project proceed we feel we are left with limited choices, 1 to sell up at a drastically reduced value (who wants to live in between two quarries?)or stay and succumb to the living and health problems mentioned above!

Please see attached submission. I object to the Stone Ridge quarry project.

12
th July 2023
TO: The Director Resource Assessments, Jessie Evans
We strongly object to the proposal for the Stone Ridge Quarry Project (SSD-10432) for the
following reasons:
• Vastly increased large traffic movements resulting in increased noise, road damage
and major safety implications.
In the last 18 years that we have been residence of Italia Road, Port Stephens Council
has approved multiple developments in our area, that have impacted greatly on our
lifestyle and health. We have recently had multiple near misses with serious car
accidents while using Italia Road. Even more quarry trucks will ensure that there will
be fatalities on Italia Road which has many concealed and difficult driveways.
• Loss of natural habitat for endangered and critical species of wildlife. ie. Koalas, Sugar
Gliders, Spotted Quoll. We know exactly how these animals feel as it appears that
along with the wildlife, we are being increasingly encroached upon and our lifestyle
decimated. We have witnessed a steady decline in quantities of wildlife due to
developments destroying their habitat and altercations with increased traffic.
• Increased noise, vibration, and dust from blasting. As a shift worker, we purchased
our property for the space from neighbouring residents and the serenity and
ambience of the area. Increased development in the area has destroyed the lifestyle
we purchased for and devalued our property and now you want to do more
development. Port Stephens Council has increased our rates but continue to devalue
our properties.
• We have grave concerns for the loss of air quality and our ongoing health. There
have been many recent reports and studies about the dangers of silicosis from the air
quality in and around mines and quarries. How can you even consider increasing our
risks with more mining in our area? Our homes were here first. How can this be fair?
• In recent years during the La Nina period we have witnessed unprecedented flooding
of Caswell Creek, which runs through the bottom of our property. With more quarry
mining in the area, we will be exposed to even more water pollution in water
catchment areas. ie. Grahamstown Dam and many private water tanks.
• We believe that another mine on Italia Road will totally change the ambience and
rural character of the area with noise, air, road, and habitat pollution and destroy the
cultural heritage.
• We strongly oppose the Stone Ridge Quarry development.
We have not made any reportable political donation in the last two years.
We acknowledge and accept the Department’s Disclaimer and Declaration.
We would appreciate it if you could please acknowledge receipt of this submission

I object the Stone Ridge quarries plan.

Koalas are endangered species, and how can koalas forest be cleared to make quarries? No way!

The state government has an obligation to protect endangered species.

The area has already seen 50-80% decline of koala population. Do you want to decimate koalas in the area? Do you think that is acceptable?

Habitat loss is the biggest cause of koala population decline.

I object to the plan.

Kind regards,
Anne Frances
East Lismore

I Am a 10 year old Boys that lives in the area, mum is helping me with this submission.
I'm worried about the Koalas and all the other native animals and where they will live, we learn at school about looking after the environment, and now the government wants to take away the trees.

I'm worried that will be getting more trucks on our roads, they are noisy and drive too fast past our driveway, its not a good thing the animals don't understand traffic and get hurt.
please stop the quarry.

10 year old local

As a Parent to children that live in area I strongly object to Stone Ridge hard rock quarry being approved within the Wallaroo State Forest on Italia Road, Balickera.
I believe this will not only affect the local wildlife habitat but also increase the traffic dramatically, with more trucks on the road in an area with already dangerous intersections, the potential for more accidents will be increased, along with noise and dust pollution and potential for animal being stuck by traffic.
the area is know to be a wildlife habitat one of the few that hasn't been damaged in the recent bush fires, don't we have enough quarries in the are already?
leave our bush alone!

I live less than 1 km from the proposed site and I'm very worried and stressed about the dust and noise.
Our house has only tank water as town water is not available in our area. Dust from the quarry will settle on the roof of our house which is our catchment for our drinking water. This dust will mix with our drinking water and directly affect my family and friends health.
Noise is also a concern, The noise from their crushers , trucks reversing beepers, other plant equipment beepers etc will come from the proposed quarry and being in such close proximity to our house I'm very worried the noise will impact our peaceful semi rural lifestyle that we have loved so much for the past 27 years. This proposed quarry will destroy our life style which we have worked all our lives to achieve. It will be harmful to our health and wellbeing and definitely should NOT go ahead.

I strongly oppose the project. We are losing too much koala habitat. Too many projects just go ahead regardless of the damage to our natural environment. Why?? Money. Please act before it's too late. Protect our native wildlife.

I do not support the extension of the quary when it's going to effect our native wildlife and their habitats, namely the koala for one. We've lost enough native animals to "infrastructure ", got to stop somewhere.
Leave these animals and their homes alone.

The proposed quarry is not in the public interest for the following reasons:
1. The land is State owned land for the purposes of protection of forest resources, including the native ecosystems occurring on the land, which contribute to a wider State and Regional interest for the proper management of those resources.
If the manager of the forest resources, Forestry Corporation of NSW are acting in the State's interest then it is unlikely that the quarry proposal represents the optimum, long-term interests of the State.
2. The development as proposed relies on offsite works which have not been assessed or approved.
3. Compounding the matter of a lack of assessment of offsite works, is that those works may be either not be practicable in the circumstances of this case or inadequate to manage the heavy vehicle movements forecast for the quarry development. If a satisfactory management regime cannot be demonstrated the proponent either provides a viable alternative or the development must be refused. The matter of creating a viable and safe access at the Italia Road / Pacific Highway intersection (and other intersections in the vicinity) is a major concern of mine as I am regular user of the Pacific Highway travelling from Gloucester to the Lower Hunter and beyond.
In conclusion, Forestry Corporation should have publicly and openly explained why the proposed quarry is in the State interest. Additionally, Transport for NSW should be held to account for the future long term safety of road users on the Pacific Highway between Raymond Terrace and Karuah.

I live within 10 km as the Yellowtail Black Cockatoo flies to this development.
I object to the proposal or the Stone Ridge Quarry project SSD – 10432
I seriously doubt Italia road could take the proposed amount of traffic in the condition it is in at the moment. It is not even safe for normal domestic traffic in that Road having to share it with the amount of gravel trucks from the Hanson Quarry at Brandy Hill.

My objection is that the proposed quarry is not in the public interest for the following reasons:
1. The land is State owned land for the purposes of protection of forest resources, including the native ecosystems occurring on the land, which contribute to a wider State and Regional interest for the proper management of those resources.
If the manager of the forest resources, Forestry Corporation of NSW are acting in the State's interest then it is unlikely that the quarry proposal represents the optimum, long-term interests of the State. Forestry Corporation, before engaging in a quarry joint venture should be required to conduct a Net Benefit Analysis involving public scrutiny and Ministerial oversight. That includes analysis, using a long term timeframe of the comparable net benefit of retaining the forest for long term forest harvesting or for the conservation of the biodiversity on the land. That biodiversity is linked to other biodiversity and ecological resources on adjoining and adjacent private and public land, including State owned National Parks and Reserves.
2. The development as proposed relies on offsite works which have not been assessed or approved. Either those works should be included in the application and their impacts assessed as part of the EIS and in the final determination, or the quarry application should be deferred for determination until after the offsite works are approved. I believe that this is now the accepted practice in assessment of Development Applications in NSW.
3. Compounding the matter of a lack of assessment of offsite works, is that those works may be either not be practicable in the circumstances of this case or inadequate to manage the heavy vehicle movements forecast for the quarry development. The TIA only addresses works that Transport for NSW considers adequate. That is, the upgrading of the intersection of the Italia Road and Pacific Highway intersection to include left in and left out slip lanes. The proponent, in response to the requirements of Transport for NSW is proposing that all heavy traffic will only enter Italia Road from the south and leave Italia Road and travel north. There is no mention as to how this traffic management arrangement could be enforced. The EIS and TIA state that the majority of demand for quarry products will be from the south. Quarry trucks leaving the site will therefore be required to divert 11 kilometres north and then 11 kilometres south. If this arrangement is viable, the applicant and TFNSW should be required to demonstrate how it will be enforced, noting that an existing quarry development in Italia Road is not subject to this requirement. If a satisfactory management regime cannot be demonstrated the proponent either provides a viable alternative or the development must be refused. The matter of creating a viable and safe access at the Italia Road / Pacific Highway intersection (and other intersections in the vicinity) is a major concern of mine as I am regular user of the Pacific Highway travelling from Gloucester to the Lower Hunter and beyond. It is also a major public interest issue that has been raised by the Federal Member for Lyne, Dr David Gillespie.
In conclusion, the application whilst declared “State Significant” for its capital scale is really a State significant development because it impacts on the matter of proper management of State land and State roads. In my view the cart has been put before the horse - Forestry Corporation should have publicly and openly explained why the proposed quarry is in the State interest. Additionally, Transport for NSW should be held to account for the future long term safety of road users on the Pacific Highway between Raymond Terrace and Karuah.

This region is currently subject to numerous development activities. It is therefore of paramount importance that all available forests and bushland must be saved, to balance the areas already resumed for housing and associated projects. Therefore, this project should be abandoned totally.

Gloucester Environment Group (GEG) objects to the Stone Ridge Quarry Project as set out in the attached submission.