Picton Terminals
The owners of the Picton Terminals on Picton Bay are facing legal action after allegedly illegally quarrying as much as one million tonnes of limestone over the past seven years, with the City of Toronto among its biggest clients.
The lawsuit, filed by four local residents, claim that two companies linked to Picton Terminals owner Ben Doornekamp – ABNA Investments and 1213427 Ontario – have been excavating limestone from the property without a license.
Media reports show at least $50 million in limestone supplied from the site since 2020 and possibly longer, with Toronto buying some of the limestone to shore up the lakefront around Tommy Thompson Park.
The terminal has been in operation since the 1950s when it was used to ship iron ore from a mine in Marmora and was redeveloped by the Doornekamp family a decade ago to provide storage for road salt and aggregate, as well as other logistic solutions and port services for shipping on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
It is the only deep water port on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario between Oshawa and Prescott.
The terminal, located on Picton Bay just a few kilometres from the town of Picton, settled a lawsuit last summer with Prince Edward County over what products could be stored on the site, shortly before the company announced a major expansion of the facility.
The maximum fine for the offence is $1 million, though these cases seldom make it to trial. The court date for the case is March 7 in Picton.
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