Environmentalists, if not quarry owners, will be holding their collective breath at the end of September when a long-awaited set of new regulations for the management of quarries is to be implemented by the government.

In response to growing concern, the government two years ago instructed the private engineering company Dar al-Handasah to prepare a detailed study of ways to lessen the damaging ecological impact of quarrying on the environment. Originally, the Ministry of Environment issued annual licenses to quarry operators. However, the government then decreed that the responsibility should fall under the aegis of the Ministry of the Interior. The interior ministry now has a discretionary role in granting new quarry licenses on a three-month basis until the Dar al-Handasah report is issued. Meanwhile, potential quarry owners are obliged to consult the environment ministry, the health ministry, and the interior ministry, with the latter having the final say. All quarry operators will have to comply with the new regulations before receiving a new license. However, many environmentalists have little faith in the extent of the new regulations and doubt they will be fully implemented.

Quarrying became a profitable industry during the construction boom in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, there are an estimated 780 active and inactive quarries in Lebanon. The majority are in Mount Lebanon with 42% of all quarries concentrated in the qada¹ of the Metn due to its proximity to Beirut and the high construction rate in the area. Around 90% of production is in the form of aggregates which include stone for pavements, roads, cement, and concrete; stone fragments; dimension stones, or cut and polished stone; and rip rap, square blocks used for marine protection. Most of the output is for domestic use with only some dimension stones exported. The total amount of material quarried each year is in excess of 1.2bn tons. Up to 5,000 cubic meters of stone are being quarried per annum. With the minimal overheads incurred, profits can exceed as much as $12,000 a day thereby making quarrying a highly lucrative business.

Environmentalists point out that quarries destroy the local environment. Even after a quarry has ceased production there are no existing regulations to rehabilitate the site to its former condition. Water supplies are often lost: when a spring is discovered, the quarry operators are required to inform the government; more often than not, however, the spring is simply buried and forgotten. Repeated dynamiting can result in landslides and cause structural damage to nearby buildings as well as coating the surrounding countryside in dust which has a detrimental effect on agriculture and health. A proposal that inactive quarries be used for the burial of solid waste with the surface landscaped for agriculture was rejected by the interior ministry, apparently because the ministry was reluctant to force quarry operators to comply.

The report compiled by Dar al-Handasah reaches six volumes and is being withheld from the public for the time being. This has led many environmentalists to suspect that the contents are inadequate and would be openly criticized if revealed. One leading environmentalist declared that the in-house Dar al-Handasah team is not sufficiently knowledgeable to produce an effective report. The company has been highly active in the reconstruction process, and it is doubtful that it would threaten this position by backing conclusions that, while environmentally proper, could embarrass powerful political figures involved in quarrying. Many quarry operators can be found in parliament and the interior minister, Michel al-Murr, has extensive business interests in some quarries in the Metn.[4]

Footnote:

[4] This can perhaps partly explain the reason why the interior ministry was eager to control the issuing of licenses. Moreover, these can be easily bartered for political support, especially during election time.