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Dufferin gets provincial okay to expand quarry operation Continued from pg. 1 The release also stated a "unique" aspect of the proposal is an agreement that Dufferin Aggregates will hand over 1,000 acres of the rehabilitated quarry and adjacent lands to public ownership. "To get the quarry after they destroyed the Escarpment is no prize," said Halsall. At press time, no representative of the Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE), the other group that filed the appeal with cabinet, was available for comment. The quarry extension is expected to add 15 years of life to the operation that employs approximately 80 people. The project has been in the works since 1996. More recently the proposal was tied up before the joint board for a 72-day public hearing-- one of the most costly hearings held in Ontario's environmental history. The boards approval came with 44 conditions Dufferin must meet including conduction annual water level monitoring and water quality sampling in certain residential wells and posting reports required by agencies on the Internet and municipal offices and libraries. (Lisa Tallyn can be reached at ltallyn@independentfreepress.com) --With files from Melanie Hennessey, special to the IFP Farmer escapes injury after wagon hit by train A farmer managed to escape injury after his tractor hauling a hay wagon stalled while crossing the tracks at Sixth Line and Fifteen Sideroad Sunday at 8:50 a.m.. While attempting to start the tractor he noticed a train coming so he unhooked the wagon that was directly on the tracks from the tractor and ran out of the way of the oncoming train. The train collided with the wagon carrying it under the locomotive for some distance down the track. The tractor wasn't hit and a spokesperson for the fire department said if the wagon hadn't been unhooked from the tractor the collision could have resulted in a train derailment. Halton Hills firefighters responded to the crossing to clean up leaking fuel from the tractor that was caused when the fuel filter dislodged while it was driven over the train tracks.