This page was exported from Caledon Citizen [ https://caledoncitizen.com ] Export date:Thu Jul 18 12:22:31 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Residents protest ‘secret’ aggregate summit --------------------------------------------------- Written By JOSHUA SANTOS A number of residents roared outside the Hampton Inn and Suites protesting a ‘secret' meeting between the Province, Town and aggregate industry leaders on Friday, March 29.   They said the Progressive Conservatives Government want to assist the aggregate industry in cutting red tape. “We're very concerned, that they're going to give them everything that they want, which will put harm us, our water, our air, our quality of life and especially our environment,” said Cheryl Connors, a resident of Caledon. “It's really, really frightening, especially as they will not talk to residents and the municipalities that care about the environment and protecting the environment, those mayors were not invited to this summit. Only the aggregate-friendly mayors were invited to the summit. That's all very frightening.” The Palgrave Residents Association claim the provincial government has gone to great lengths to keep the location secret, and has refused requests from concerned residents, environmental and other stakeholder groups, to participate, according to a news release. “The Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (OSSG) has released a couple of very alarming, white-papers that indicate that the aggregate industry wants to be exempt from virtually every single piece of environmental legislation, to be allowed to extract anywhere, not have to abide by Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment legislation.  “For example, there's current prohibitions going below-the-water table not being able to extract in those environmental sensitive places,” said Connors. “They don't want to abide by that anymore, they don't also want to not have to abide by the endangered species act or prohibitions from extracting significant wetlands or tree lots; really every piece of environmental legislation, they want to be exempt from.” The Citizen was able to obtain a copy of the OSSGA whitepapers ‘Untangling Red Tape' and ‘Securing Access'. The OGSSGA has a long list of concerns. They would like access to aggregates within municipal road allowances, according to the ‘untangling red tape' report. “We are leaving thousands of tonnes of quality aggregate in the ground because of the red tape involved in coming to an agreement as to how to access this material,” states the document. They claim one of the most visible examples of ‘inappropriate aggregate resource management' is in the Mosport Area. They said it is a concentrated area of pits within the Oak Ridges Moraine, and there are significant depths of high-quality sand and gravel reserves. “Many of the licences have the ability to extract between 30 and 80 metres in depth. Access to material within (and abutting within the setbacks) the Road Allowance would provide income for the Municipality, reduce operating costs and fuel expenditure, provide additional reserves without going further from market and needing to disturb new resources, and provide a viable comprehensive rehabilitation landform that ties in with surrounding lands, states the document. Further, they state the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has set a precedent for policy interpretation to allow both a major Site Plan Amendment and a license amendment to access material under Road Allowances. “This policy needs to be streamlined to find a common-sense approach that is consistently implemented across all MNRF Districts; and, establish a process where the province has the ability to step in (e.g. expropriate) to allow extraction and road re-instatement to access the provincially significant aggregate resource,” states the document. “The Ontario Sand, Stone and Gravel Association has released a couple of very alarming, whitepapers that indicate that the aggregate industry wants to be exempt from virtually every single piece of environmental legislation, to be allowed to extract anywhere, not have to abide by Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment legislation that will say; for example, there's current prohibitions going below the water table not being able to extract in those environmental sensitive places,” said Connors. “They don't want to abide by that anymore, they don't also want to have to abide by the endangered species act or prohibitions from extracting significant wetlands or tree lots; really every piece of environmental legislation, they want to be exempt from.” The OGSSGA, in their Securing Access report, would also like to permit extraction in ‘significant woodlands that can be replaced and enhanced on the landscape subject to demonstration of ‘no negative impact.' “Woodlands are a renewable resource and aggregate resources are a non-renewable resource. Currently, woodlands can be deemed significant based on size alone without any consideration to quality or function of the woodland. The no negative impact test is a difficult test to achieve and will ensure high quality woodlands with important ecological functions are not extracted. The aggregate industry has demonstrated its ability to rehabilitate to woodland conditions and to expand and enhance significant woodlands,” the report states. “One of the other things they want to do is they want to be allowed to bring commercial fill into all of their pits, and they don't want to have to abide by Table 1 of Soil Requirements, where it's safe for drinking waters,” said Connors. “They want fill up all these pits with contaminated soil, when most of us in rural areas rely on private wells for drinking water. Even if not, places like the moraine, where it should be protected, is supplying water to hundreds of thousands of people.” John Yakabuski, minister of natural resources and forestry, Steve Clarke, minister of municipal affairs and housing, Mayor Allan Thompson and representatives from Indigenous communities were expected to be at the meeting. Connors said this is the Ford Government trying to attack the Greenbelt through the aggregate industry.  “So, 35,000 people in Ontario wrote letters against Schedule 10 of Bill 66,” said Connors. “The government backed off, but they're going to keep backdooring it in through other pieces of legislation.” “If those whitepapers are any indication, it's going to be as detrimental to the environment as Schedule 10 was. We're all, obviously, very concerned.” --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2019-04-04 11:47:44 Post date GMT: 2019-04-04 15:47:44 Post modified date: 2019-04-11 11:38:31 Post modified date GMT: 2019-04-11 15:38:31 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com