AGGREGATE IN ONTARIO
Amending the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA)
The time has come to stop developing aggregate resources at the expense of all else.
Ontario's Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) is based on 40-year old values. The ARA allows pits/quarries to be dug anywhere including environmentally protected land; it bypasses the environmental assessment process; it does not require that proof of need of the aggregate be established; it requires that pits/quarries be dug "close to market" which undermines recycling efforts; it does not take farmland, source water or people's health protection into account. The ARA and its underlying policies must be updated. What worked in the 1970s does not necessarily work today. We need to be diligent and make sure that the ARA review takes today’s values and environmental standards into account. We need to recycle and preserve this finite product. We need to protect our prime farmland, food security, water resources and at-risk species. We may have to pay more money for aggregate but we will have to pay either way. The decisions we make today will have a tremendous impact on the lifestyles of future generations. Stay in touch with your MPP. Keep sending those cards and letters to the provincial Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry and the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks as well as the Premier. Stay informed. Don’t let others make these very crucial decisions for your children.
I am an Ontario resident and taxpayer. I ask that the Government of Ontario, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Standing Committee established to review the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) amend the ARA to address the following values:
1. Invoke a “Food and Water First” policy. This requires protection for prime farming soils (classes 1-3) and source water protection. Aggregate should not be mined at the expense of local food and fresh water. As a province and as a nation, we must be able to feed ourselves.
2. Make conservation of aggregate, a non-renewable resource, a priority over approval of new extraction sites. Conservation can occur through aggregate recycling and use of alternative materials. All three levels of government need to be encouraged to use recycled product.
3. Reserve virgin aggregate, a non-renewable resource, for use within Canada.
4. Prohibit aggregate extraction below the water table without a full Environmental Assessment and full understanding of the impact on all areas, near and far.
5. Prohibit aggregate extraction below the water table in drinking water source areas.
6. Conduct a thorough study of all existing aggregate reserves in Ontario. We cannot know what we need until we know what we have.
7. Require that new aggregate proposals demonstrate need for additional resource extraction in meeting the demands of the Ontario market.
8. Mandate that an Environmental Assessment occur for all new or expanding aggregate operations.
9. Develop a process and guidelines for identifying and designating new Specialty Crop Areas to safeguard unique agricultural land resources. Prohibit aggregate extraction in Specialty Crop Areas.
10. Develop a comprehensive “Aggregate Master Plan” and disallow new aggregate mining licenses within environmentally protected spaces until the “Aggregate Master Plan” has been fully approved by the people and the province. Align the “Aggregate Master Plan” with existing environmental protection legislation including the Greenbelt, the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine.
11. Provide an assessment of the cumulative affects (dust, noise, air quality, traffic emissions; effects on water) of industrial projects including the “Aggregate Master Plan” on Ontario residents by district and take those impacts into account in the decision-making process.
12. Full cost accounting: Realign the cost of virgin aggregate to reflect reality. Economically, aggregate is a low-priced, heavy-weight commodity that takes the bulk of its cost from transportation. Today, however, the price of virgin aggregate must include the activism necessary by residents to fight for their best interest despite the elected and public institutions designed to represent and protect the public interest. As well, the cost must encompass the environmental cost on residents. In other words the market cost for virgin aggregate is unrealistically cheap. Create a management system that works for residents and price the product accordingly.
13. Implement “social licencing” where operators must earn the right to continue extraction through responsible operation, and timely and progressive rehabilitation.
14. Establish an end to each aggregate licence through a “sunset clause”. It is unfair to local residents and communities when an aggregate operation can exist for an indefinite period. Operators have a tendency to keep near exhausted sites active enough to avoid rehabilitation expense. Or they apply to go deeper/wider and extend the life of the operation. Or they accept commercial fill (the more contaminated/suspect the fill the higher the fee earned). Or they stockpile licences indefinitely causing problems when communities build up around the site. Such never-ending aggregate practices have a negative impact on local communities. Give communities a light at the end of the tunnel.
Source: compiled by Donna Baylis
*** Notice that the information on this web page and the associated website have been compiled through private amateur research for the purpose of allowing the reader to make an informed and educated decision. However, while the information is believed to be reliable, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. ***
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
Comment “Reducing the amount of aggregate extracted from our land by salvaging old aggregate through recycling is a key ask of the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) review. We need the government to lead the way in adopting specifications and acknowledging that recycled product can be suitable for many applications including Ontario's aggregate hungry roads. Other ARA asks include protecting farmland, source water, greenspace, human health and ensuring that the full cost of aggregate extraction is taken into account in decision-making processes.”