ERO No. 019-3449 Miller…

ERO No. 019-3449
Miller Paving Limited

Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry (MNRF) is tasked with the responsibility of protecting and preserving the Province's natural resources, including our precious clean water resources. One of the Ministry's key responsibilties is to monitor the operations of the Province's sand and gravel pits to ensure they remain in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Miller Paving Limited has now applied to amend the licensing arrangements of its Boyington pit #3 in Uxbridge Township to remove 36 hectares of the property from the its licence and from the jurisdiction of the MNRF. It is proposed that the oversight responsibilty be transferred to the Township of Uxbridge. This would relieve Miller of its obligation under the licence to rehabilitate the pit on that portion of its site. It would also open the door to Miller importing fill from the GTA, and establishing a much larger industrial site and contractor's yard. We feel that the proposal should be denied for several reasons:
a) Miller has failed the last three MNRF site inspections and has proven unwilling to comply with orders to remedy those failures. The fact that the pit sits atop a very vulnerable aquifer of the Oak Ridges Moraine seems to be of little concern to them.
b) The Township is ill-equiped to take on the oversight responsibilty. It has neither the expertise nor the staff resources to take on the task. If the Ministry has not been able to bring about compliance, how could one expect the Township to do better, with none of the MNRH powers?
c) If the Miller proposal succeeds, it will be just the first in a parade of pit operators over many years to come. What a deal, get out from under the obligation to rehabilitate, make money from impo
rting fill and permanently transfer agricultural land into industrial zoning. And the water?... oh, well....