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Belfast Telegraph The Letters Page

“Quarry’s Crumbling Property” Dear Belfast Evening News, The local Quarry is a menace; it is destroying our lives in more ways than one. It has destroyed the beauty of our mountains; there is a massive hole in them. Their machines go on from 3AM; no one can get any sleep around them. Not to mention how ugly it is, and when they use Trinitrotoluene (TNT) to blast the rock, it sends vibrations and boulders flying into our homes, our walls are falling apart due to this. The dust also makes it hard for anyone to breath outside, if you’re out and they decide to blast away at the mountains you’ll find yourself in a cloud of dust. -Adam To the Editor – please forward to the Chairman of the White Moutain Company Sir, Your company is ruining my life, you've been destroying the precious Black Mountain which nature took millions of years to form, you've scarred it terribly in about a few years, and the dust has caused my oldest son to become asthmatic. I can't believe the government has allowed you to keep at this until 2056! This Quarrying is polluting in every way it can, noise pollution, from the explosions, visual pollution, because, let's face it, a Quarry isn't going to be pretty, dust pollution, as I have stated before, and environment, do you think that the environment will just pop back up for our ancestors? No, it isn't. And your heavy lorries are dirtying our roads, causing more traffic, the damage to our roads, using our quiet lanes and the noise is enough to wake me up in the morning, I don't need an alarm clock, I just need a bunch of lorries driving by every morning, I'm sure this would be the same from everyone here, you're destroying a mountain that will never come back, please

stop the quarrying, and you'll make all of us on upper Springfield road happy. Yours sincerely, Danté To the Belfast Evening News This is a complaint letter about what life is living near to a quarry. I am this close to moving from this place as I cannot take this anymore. • When I wake up in the morning, my nose tickles and my lungs start feel a little bit strange. This is because of all the dust from the rocks which have been blown up in the quarry nearby. Everything is so dusty that I can barely see myself in my mirror. A few nights before my friend, who is 12, was rushed to hospital because he was having trouble to breathe. Luckily he was fine. The dust affects especially the young and elderly people. • A few of my friends have now got hearing problems because of the explosives and the large machinery being used in the quarry. I sometimes get a shock when all of a sudden this massive, loud and powerful bang comes from the quarry and vibrates in my house. • The explosions are so huge that they can be felt in the ground even from a fair distance from the quarry. My bedroom walls are completely cracked from all the vibrations. There are long deep cracks which go up the wall and have other little cracks shooting out of it like the branches from a tree. I have got to move or I will go mad! From Guilhem To the Editor Sir, I would like to tell you that i am not very happy with the black-mountain-quarry because it makes a lot of noise with the explosions, there are cracks on our walls in our house, the quarry is ruining my view, i am struggling to breath because of the dust and there are a lot of trucks going up and

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down the roads every 30mins.Thank you for listening. Take care. Kinds regards, Lauryn To The Belfast Evening News I am writing to you concerning The Black Mountain Quarry. Living near the Quarry is incredibly disturbing with the Lorry’s and the dust. We have had to adjust our lifestyle quite a bit in the last few years due to Lorry traffic on the small roads and the blasting noises that we get at least once a day. It’s not just the community that is getting destroyed, the environment was cut away when they made the Quarry. The trees that have taken years to grow have just disappeared! As well as all the trees disappearing the quarry has destroyed our lovely view of the mountain! A few of my elder friends have had some problems breathing caused to all of the dust pollution and hope that I won’t have to suffer like that as well. I hope that has given you some thoughts on the other people who have to see the quarry every day. Regards, Miss M. Morgan. Dear Sir I am writing to express how I feel about the local quarry, White Mountain, Black Mountain Quarry, Northern Ireland. The quarry causes a lot of damage to towns near it; it creates a lot of noise and hurts the ears because of the explosions. The quarry causes damage to houses as well. The dust also causes allergic reactions, sneezing for example. The Lorries cause an enormous amount of damage to the roads and cause major traffic jams. It means a lot of explosion required. The noise is unbearable; the streets are littered with dust. The pollution is high. This is intolerable, we must stop this. Yours faithfully, Nic Mr. Nicholas Clarke

To the Editor, I would like to complain about Black Mountain Quarry because: Noise pollution; The sound of the quarry, the endless droning of the machinery, is loud and disturbs the towns and villages around it. This is why the quarry should be placed somewhere more remote(but I am not saying that you should cut down trees in order to make room for the quarry). But why do you have to place it next to a town or a village? You could place it somewhere far away from any disturbances. Visual pollution; Black Mountain used to be a stunning landscape, but now, because of the quarry, it has been ruined by machinery, huge holes in the mountain and grey, windy weathering of the rocks. Almost all the countryside on the west half has been destroyed. You say that you have received permission to carry on quarrying until about 2060! That’s 60 years of eroding the countryside! Environmental pollution; Black Mountain is now pumping out a huge section of Wales’ annual CO2 emissions. This is not acceptable. I know quarrying is very important for producing building materials, but shouldn’t we cut down on buildings? The more buildings we build, the more CO2 they use up and global warming will get exponentially worse. Sincerely Yours T. Haines-Matos Dear Sir, I am writing to inform you that I completely disagree with the quarry company having the permission to mine this area for another 50 years. The mining has made life here very difficult. Firstly I have recently become a mother and my baby already has respiratory problems due to the dust pollution. Secondly I would like to point out the noise caused by the mining. Every week we hear a deafening rumble echo through the town. Also, everyday driving is unpleasant because enormous lorries are driving up and down the roads so there is always traffic. Finally the blasting causes structural damage to the houses nearest to the

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quarry. My father’s chimney was damaged, no he is having problems with the fireplace. Please publish this letter so hopefully someone will do something about this huge problem. Yours sincerely, Amy Mitchells (AKA Kat) BLACK MOUNTAIN COMPLAINT. Dear Sir I’d like to make a complaint to White Mountain for the trouble it is causing me and my family. I’ve lived near Black Mountain for about 10 years and plan to live here for even longer. But it is causing me and my family a lot of stress at night and day with the noise of the vehicles and machines they use to quarry. The sleepless nights and ignorant workers are forcing us to leave if it does not stop! The vibrations have once or twice knocked a pictures or vases onto the floor. Black mountain is causing us to use inhalers! And now they have permission to continue it really seems like we are not going to be here for long. The young children cannot get to sleep at night from it. So if this continues I will be leaving the area as soon as possible. But the trouble is that no one wants to move here! But hopefully they will stop. Signed Warren To Whom It May Concern, I am writing because I am angry that the quarry is near my, and many other’s presence, and it can often ruin a day. This letter, although short, illustrates the points that the quarry should fix. First off, it ruins the beautiful city that is Belfast, due to the quarry being, in my honest opinion, ugly and unattractive. I am also complaining that the noisiness of the quarry you can listen from miles away. It somewhat annoys the community. The area near the quarry can get dusty – we can often get it in our eyes and rocks can “float”, making the area quite

unhygienic. Finally, the lorries needed for quarrying can cause many a traffic jam. It causes damage to roads and it brings noise to quiet, peaceful lanes. I hope you can respond to this letter and help with the situation. Yours sincerely, Miss Billy Johnston Lower Springfield Road Belfast BT17 0LU To the Editor I am writing this letter because of my deep concern that the nearby quarry is damaging our lives and our environment. I am really concerned about the huge trucks carrying products through our small village roads, and polluting our village. I know the argument is that this quarry provides jobs for the people of our village, but no money can pay for the destruction that this type of mining is producing in our environment. I am tired of the sound of the explosions that I think must be really damaging for the wild life. I am really worried about the effects on the wildlife. I have not seen a single bird around since the quarry started its work. I am worried about the destruction of trees, and small animal homes. We are all linked in this earth. If we do not take care for our environment no job will give us back the lost species of animals and plants. I also see the landscape is looking more and more depressive each day. I used to enjoy going out for a walk. Now I only see and breath dust and pollution from the mine and from the trucks passing by. I think we need to ask ourselves is there a real national need for this quarry and what would be some quality alternatives to the quarry and to the village employment. We need to use our imagination and our ideas to find solutions to a form of mining that is hurting us all, even those that make money with it. Sincerely, Kenda Meshika Cafferatta Rivas

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The Editor Belfast Telegraph 124 -144 Royal Avenue Belfast BT1 1EB Northern Ireland Dear Editor I am writing to ask you if you will support our campaign to close Black Mountain Quarry. We have actively been getting the support of the media in the area, and would very much like you to run an article on the subject. The Black Mountain has been dug away and has became an eye sore in our town. While the company is working, fumes get

blown into neighbouring towns which is a form of pollution. The Lorries constantly trundle though the town creating traffic and dangerous conditions for residents. Although some people would argue that the quarry is important for the town because it helps employment, we know the quarry will not last forever therefore the jobs will not be there indefinitely. As a resident I think that removing the quarry will benefit us environmentally, therefore the quarrying should be stopped. Thank you for your support. Yours Sincerely, Mohammed Hasan

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