Proponent family appears…

Proponent family appears unwilling to work with local residents to protect species at risk #StandForForests #ONpq

Having just read an article about the Coco Group objecting to road closures adjacent to a Windsor area provincial park to protect species at risk, I have concerns that this division of the business will also be hard-nosed in working with the local community and municipal Council to protect Ontario’s environment.

To quote the article:
Coco has already threatened to take legal action if the city implements any road closures that affect its business. The company doubled down on its threat in the most recent letter to the city.
“Clearly this would be an action of not acting in good faith, and would cause significant negative harm to any approved future development on our Raceway lands to be negatively impacted, opening this matter to litigation,” wrote Anthony Rossi, Coco’s director of land development and government relations.
(https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/city-council-debates-road-closu…)

In today’s world progressive corporations must practice political, social, and environmental responsibility including ethical leadership offering healthy choices, fair and safe labour practices, and long-term resource sustainability. We -- potential customers, employees, investors, regulators -- demand it for today and for future generations.

Additionally, as an Ontario Resident and Taxpayer I ask that the Government of Ontario and the Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry to:

1. 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.

2. Reserve virgin aggregate, a non-renewable resource, for use within Canada.

3. Prohibit aggregate extraction below the water table without a full Environmental Assessment and full understanding of the impact on all areas, near and far.

4. Prohibit aggregate extraction below the water table in drinking water source areas. Ontarians need source water protection.

5. 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.

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. Develop an “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.

8. Provide an assessment of the cumulative effects (dust, noise, air quality, traffic emissions; effects on water) of the “Aggregate Master Plan” on Ontario residents by district.

9. Require that new aggregate proposals demonstrate need for additional resource extraction in meeting the demands of the Ontario market.

10. Mandate that an Environmental Assessment occur for all new or expanding aggregate operations.

11. 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. This is called full cost accounting.

12. Implement “social licencing” where operators must earn the right to continue extraction through responsible operation, and timely and progressive rehabilitation.

13. Include an end to the aggregate licence, a “sunset clause”. Legally, all contracts require a termination point. Give communities a light at the end of the tunnel. Operators have a tendency to keep a near exhausted site active enough to avoid rehabilitation due to the expense. Or, they extend the life of the operation by accepting commercial fill – the more contaminated/suspect the fill the higher the fee earned.

14. Help to protect Ontario’s food security by prohibiting aggregate extraction on prime class 1, 2, 3 and 4 farm lands. Ontario’s legislation does not take today’s values of minimal environmental impact on water, food land and living space into account in a comprehensive and integrated fashion. Ontarians need food land protection.

Until such time as my above-noted concerns are addressed and whereas there is no Aggregate Master plan, I object to the establishment of this new aggregate resource.

#ONpq Old pits never die, they just request expansion.
#ONpq Old quarries never die, they just get reactivated.
#ONpq Old quarries never die, they just go deeper.