HARRISBURG - Before the miners came to quarry rocks, Harrisburg, founded in 1841 by returned free slaves from the United States, was one of the quietest and most beautiful places in Liberia.
“Harrisburg was fine. The plants used to grow fine. When you plant potato greens, it grows fine. If you plant cassava it grows fine. The creeks were fine,” Yatta Taylor, a resident, said.
By 2012, everything began to change after Z&C Investment Company arrived. It had acquired a license to quarry rocks in this Rural Montserrado township along the St. Paul River.
In the last 12 years of Z&C’s operations, a cloud of dust the quarry produces has grayed the once pristine landscape. The resultant sound of rock explosion and crushing replaces the township’s quietude.
“The dust is suffering us here, it takes over all the crops and plants that we planted,” Taylor, who lives less than 500 meters away from the plant, told The DayLight.
“When we harvest the potato greens or cassava leaf to cook it, you have to wash it more than five times before cutting or [pounding] it to cook,” she added.
The plant operates nearly 24 hours a day, crushing rocks. Between January 2022 and April last year, it produced 126,000 cubic yards of rocks, according to an environmental audit approved by the EPA.
The environmental audit is contradictory. In its summary findings, it was inconclusive whether Z&C prevented water and air pollution in Harrisburg. However, in the details of the findings, it was conclusive that Z&C prevented water and air pollution.