31,000 ACT and NSW residents live within five kilometres of the site. 92,000 residents live within ten kilometres.

The nearest Royalla residents are only 1.6km away. ACT residents are only 2.6km away.

Silica dust and noise can travel further than this in all directions. Exposing this to our children and most venerable in the community.

There are three other quarries in the region, and none are operating at full capacity. This quarry is not needed to meet production needs.

This quarry would exist to increase the profits of two families. This will come at the cost of negative impact to many thousands.

As a local homeowner raising two young children, I am deeply alarmed by the Monaro Rock Quarry proposal and call on authorities to refuse approval. The EIS confirms that the project will operate for 30 to 35 years, essentially my children’s entire childhood and young adulthood will be spent living next to an industrial blasting site. This is not an acceptable legacy for any family. The cumulative impacts on air quality, noise, and mental health will shape an entire generation’s experience of growing up in Royalla.

The environmental consequences of this proposal are irreversible. Clearing of 21 hectares of land, the removal of soil, and the construction of a large quarry pit will destroy ecosystems that currently support biodiversity and provide natural buffers for noise and air quality. The EIS acknowledges the presence of Box-Gum Woodland and sensitive species. Offsetting these losses elsewhere does not protect the immediate Royalla environment. My children will not benefit from an offset site kilometres away, they will be breathing the dust and living with the loss of the bushland around our home.

Traffic impacts are also grossly underestimated in the EIS. An extra 200 heavy vehicle trips per day will transform the Monaro Highway into a freight corridor, increasing the risk of serious accidents and putting pressure on already busy intersections. This is particularly concerning for families whose children will one day drive these roads. No level of road widening or intersection redesign can eliminate the risks that come with such high-volume, high-mass vehicle movements through a semi-rural community.

Decision-makers have an obligation to consider the long-term social cost of approving projects like this. Once approved, there is no going back, the community will live with the impacts for decades. This is not compatible with ecologically sustainable development or with a vision of a healthy, connected, and safe future for Royalla families.

I wish to voice my objection to the proposed Monaro Rock Quarry Project. My primary concerns relates to the health impacts of silica dust on myself and my family and the significant increase in heavy vehicle traffic that this project will generate — up to 500 truck movements per day along the Monaro Highway and Old Cooma Road.

1. Health Risks from Silica Dust
I am extremely worried about the impact of airborne silica dust from quarry operations on nearby communities. I live in Banks, my daughter, her partner, and young child live in Tralee, while another daughter and partner live in Googong, all within close proximity of the proposed quarry site.

Silica dust is recognised as a deadly hazard, causing serious long-term respiratory illnesses, silicosis, and even cancer. NSW Health warns that even low levels of exposure can have serious long-term health consequences. The health consequences of exposure are well-documented and cannot be ignored.

My concern is heightened because I and my daughter have autoimmune diseases, which already places us at greater risk of serious complications from environmental pollutants. Exposing us, and my young grandchild, to increased levels of silica dust is not only unsafe but negligent!

2. Road Safety Risks
Such a volume of heavy vehicles presents multiple and unacceptable impacts:
* Both the Monaro Highway and Old Cooma Road are already busy routes, particulary during the snow season. The introduction of up to 500 additional heavy vehicle movements per day will substantially increase the risk of collisions, particularly involving smaller passenger vehicles, school buses, and agricultural traffic.
* This concern is deeply personal for me: my daughter was recently involved in a serious car accident on Old Cooma Road, resulting in her vehicle being written off. Thankfully, she was not badly injured, but the incident highlights how dangerous this road can already be without the addition of hundreds of quarry trucks.
* I personally drive from Banks to Googong for work five days a week, using these same roads. The thought of sharing them with so many additional quarry trucks makes me fearful for my own safety, as well as that of other daily commuters.

3. Traffic Congestion
An additional 500 truck trips will place immense strain on the road network. This will cause significant congestion, especially during peak travel times when commuters, snow traffic, and school transport already compete for limited road space.

4. Infrastructure Strain and Maintenance Costs
Heavy vehicles cause disproportionate wear and tear on roads. The burden of road damage and required upgrades will ultimately fall on local councils and taxpayers, despite the quarry being a private commercial operation.

In light of these concerns — including my family’s direct experience with the dangers of Old Cooma Road, my daily commute on these routes, and my deep worry for my daughter and her young family in Tralee — I believe the Monaro Rock Quarry Project poses unacceptable risks to road safety, public health, and community wellbeing. I strongly urge the responsible authorities to reject this project.

Please see the attached file

I support this proposal as I live in Royalla and currently live unaffected by other similar types of operations, from a needs point of view I believe competition is needed as the current Holcim quarry on old Cooma road is supplying Downer Asphalt plant in Hume with material from its Albion Park quarry which is 220 km away as the Holcim quarry on Old Cooma road is unable to supply inspec quality product this quarry is near the end of its effective life.

This industry is well regulated with the Mines department the EPA and DPHI all more than capable of controlling such a development like this.

I support this project

Personally I have health problems and the added amount of dust, potentially silica dust is concerning. Please find another hill to dig up, somewhere where it not going to have such an impact on us all.

I strongly oppose the Monaro Quarry project. This development poses serious health risks, increases noise pollution, and will create significant traffic congestion in our community. Many residents—including children, families, and the elderly—live nearby and will be directly impacted. Our community deserves a safe, healthy, and peaceful environment, not one compromised by industrial activity.

I object in the strongest possible terms to this proposed quarry and associated rock crushing, concrete recycling and hot asphalt manufacture.
In 2003 we purchased our block (zoned rural residential), designed and built our home and landscape. We are south east and in close proximity to the proposed project.
Issues of major concern are: social and economic; health and wellbeing; traffic; and biodiversity impacts.

Social and economic Impacts. The lifestyle we have built will no doubt be significantly affected by noise, dust, and vibrations. Of great concern is the use of water by the project. We share a bore (we are not permitted a dam) with two other neighbours. We have spent around $9,000 in updating and maintaining the bore. We rely on the water for horses, gardens and firefighting. Having no, or significantly reduced, access to the bore water would no doubt lead to unsustainable living conditions. These impacts can only produce a great risk of decreased house and property values. In other words, impacts on our economic future.

Health and wellbeing impacts. I am gravely concerned about the health risks of silica dust, noise, vibrations, and odour which would be produced as part of the project. The proposed site is too close.

Traffic. At present, anecdotally, the Monaro Highway already reaches full carrying capacity especially with the large increase in traffic in the snow season. The addition of a significant number of heavy vehicles daily as proposed, could create a 'black spot" in road usage and potential accidents.

Biodiversity. The potential loss of habitat, of which there are over 300 species of flora and fauna at this site , appears to contradict the NSW Government's commitment to strengthen prescriptions in the Land Management (Native Vegetation) Code.

I am concerned that my family, community and environment will be impacted by the proposed quarry. As a resident of Theodore, and a former environmental consultant; my family and I object to the proposed quarry for the following reasons to which I believe are to be true:
1) High risk of silica and other airborne contaminants: Appendix C Human Health Risks Assessment concludes that dust will prevented from leaving the site based on assumptions of adherence to simple dust management strategies dot pointed in the report. I believe this is based on some sort of trust that the operators will adhere to these dust management strategies every day, all day for the life of the project. I contacted Monaro Rock Quarry via email published on their proposal website for any questions. I asked if there will be new processing equipment used with dust suppression built in and not the use of old second hand equipment. To my knowledge I have had no response. I have concerns if this project can be undertaken in an environmentally responsible and compliant manner. What type of compliance enforcement will there be imposed if any? I also have concerns that the NSW EPA may not be able to of enforce adequate compliance to any environmental obligations imposed on the operator as the EPA typically focus on light handed education not robust enforcement.
2) No air quality monitoring program presented for review: In the conclusion of Appendix C Human Health Risks Assessment it states 'It is assumed that an air quality monitoring program would be part of the air quality management' Assumed? A proposed monitoring program should be an obligation and not to have a proposed monitoring plan for review I believe should be a reason to refuse this project.
3) Atmospheric Inversions already having high levels of pollution: The Tuggeranong valley and Canberra region is known to have atmospheric inversions that trap pollutions low to the ground. There is was an ACT enquiry into smoke risk from home fire smoke trapped in these layers with environmental risks raised by the Conservation Council outlined in (https://conservationcouncil.org.au/blog/2025/09/04/wood-heater-phase-out/). I could not find in the EIS if there was any study of the dynamics’s of these inversion layers. However, the conclusion of Appendix C Human Health Risks Assessment in Paragraph 4 acknowledges existing pollution as a factor. However, I believe adding to existing pollution risk is unacceptable and suggesting that existing pollution is higher than what would be introduced by the quarry deliberately downplays the increased accumulative risk added by the quarry.
4) There is no need for a new quarry in the region: There are multiple other quarries in the region with no supply reason or economic case for the new quarry, especially considering the significant environmental and safety risks that the quarry in my belief could potentially expose workers, surrounding residents and environment to. I have searched the internet and can't find if this company runs other quarries elsewhere and what their record is. Therefore I have concerns that the company may not have prior experience operating a quarry and ability to manage associated environmental and safety risks.
5) Quarry location on the border of ACT and NSW: The proposed location on the border is a juristically problematic issue. I have concerns on how the NSW and ACT EPAs and Work Safe organisation's will manage compliance, breaches, complaints, incidents etc. regarding the quarry operations and activities offsite and what will the mechanism for ACT residents to raise concerns, complaints etc.
6) Blasting near residential areas: Having blasting within 3km of long established suburbs of Canberra is unacceptable, not only from a noise prospective but the from dust (including potential silica risk) from blasting. I could not find in the conclusion of the Appendix C Human Health Risks Assessment how dust from the blasts will be managed.
7) Infrastructure not suitable: In my option the roads in Canberra and Queanbeyan council areas are completely unsuitable for increased truck movements. The intersection with Monaro highway and Johnson Drive, Theodore ACT I believe is completely unsuitable for increased truck and dog combos. The ACT Government in my option is incapable of improving this intersection which is already dangerous from over use, lack of maintenance, at capacity by regular traffic and not easy for navigation by any truck types.

Your consideration of my objection would be greatly appreciated.