Proposed ARA amendments…

Proposed ARA amendments cherry-picked to benefit industry #ONpq

COMMENTS

AGGREGATE SUMMIT - It should be noted that the March 2019 Aggregates Summit hosted by the Government of Ontario did not include interested parties and stakeholders such as myself and the NGOs for which I volunteer, despite industry representatives supporting requests for us to attend. In fact the location was held secret from the public by government staff. I was outside the hotel on the sidewalk protesting this lack of inclusion. To all intents and purposes, the Summit included industry and government participants only. Such exclusion does not help the aggregate industry’s reputation and encourages an “us” versus “them” opposition.

At that time, the Government of Ontario accepted comments via e-mail and online survey, but it is obvious in this proposal that issues have been cherry-picked to support the aggregate industry goals.

WATER PROTECTION - Yes, water protection needs to be strengthened. However, the approval process should demand increased scientific analysis on applications. The current and proposed processes rely on the public and municipalities to fight to protect water. Water should be protected by default. Exceptions may be approved but only after careful consideration of cost/benefit including but not limited to the science analyzing the full impact on the watershed. Aggregate extraction below the water table in drinking water source areas should be prohibited.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT - Yes, the public and municipalities should be involved in the decisions being made in their areas. However, allowing municipalities and others to officially object to an application and provide the opportunity to have their concerns heard by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) is too late in the process and too expensive because LPAT involvement requires lawyers and other paid experts. Issues raised by municipalities and the public should be considered and addressed at no cost to the same. The local municipality and public must have voice in their own destiny.

Removing municipalities’ rights to specify extraction depth generally and zoning on crown land is not conducive to their inclusion in the decision-making process.

REHABILITATION - Yes, aggregate site rehabilitation should be encouraged and monitored. This would benefit the industry as well as municipalities and the public. Rehabilitation successes should be celebrated, and failures addressed. The Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation (TOARC), trustee for the Aggregate Resources Trust, should be funded to improve the rate of rehabilitation of abandoned pits and quarries. A royalty of $0.009 per tonne with an average cost of $12,000 per hectare addresses around 100 sites per year. However, there are thousands of these sites. As Gordon Miller, former Environment Commissioner of Ontario stated in 2017: “Increasing that to two cents would give you four times as many sites or more. It’s not a lot of money relative to the price of aggregate, but it’s certainly an area that could do with a lot of improvement. We could get a lot more of these scars on the landscape cleaned up.”

REGULATORY - In general, allowing aggregate operations to self-file and police themselves, does not work. It is equivalent to the fox guarding the hen house.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations for Changes to the Aggregate Resources Act & Underlying Policies (2019)

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. Abandon "close to markets" economic monopoly to encourage re-use of 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.

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 but not limited to the Greenbelt, the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine.

8. Provide an assessment of the cumulative affects (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 aggregate 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.

#ProtectOurWater #ProtectPrimeFarmland #FoodAndWaterFirst #GrowOurGreenbelt