[All] Ban Quarries and quarry expansion: Environmental Defence - things ain't that simple, unfortunately

[Louisette Lanteigne]

I absolutely agree with Greg. Here's a visual to support the concern showing the most recent ROPP's mapping of the primary recharge areas and proposed aggregate extraction zones.
 
http://www.waterloomoraineact.com/aggregate.htm
 
Lulu 

--- On Thu, 3/4/10, Gregory C. Michalenko <gcmichalenko at uwaterloo.ca> wrote:


From: Gregory C. Michalenko <gcmichalenko at uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: RE: [All] Ban Quarries and quarry expansion: Environmental Defence - things ain't that simple, unfortunately
To: "Louisette Lanteigne" <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>, "all at gren.ca" <all at gren.ca>
Date: Thursday, March 4, 2010, 4:13 PM


The outcome of this action is that an enormous amount of gravel extraction will move into Waterloo Region west and south of Cambridge in North Dumphries township which has huge gravel deposits along with the very finest natural areas and scenery in the Region (maybe we should have a GREN road trip there).  The situation is already critical and North Dumphries already has the second highest concentration of gravel pits in Ontario.  Since the proclamation of the green belt, more and more applications - which come under rules set by  the all-powerful Ministry of Natural Resources - are being made and they are unstoppable.  The Township wishes that it wasn't turning into a landscape that looks like Swiss cheese, but it has no say.  Once a landowner agrees (in some cases these will be farmers facing ever more serious financial problems because of the chronic problems in agriculture) and a gravel firm puts in an application, the outcome is inevitable. 
 In a very few cases EEAC has been able to modify the licenses or reduce the area that is allowed for extraction, but only in cases where a designated natural area such as a Provincially Significant Wetland or an Environmentally Sensitive Policy Area is involved.  That is what EEAC's terms of reference restrict it to.  A critical issue is that Kitchener-Waterloo is the largest municipality in Canada that depends on groundwater for it domestic water supply.  This groundwater is protected by the overburden of rock, gravel, sand, and soil.  There are a variety of threats to contamination from the surface, such as road salt, industrial spills, and materials used in farm operations.  The more gigantic holes that are punched into or near the groundwater, the more threatened this resource becomes.  

The Region of Waterloo has introduced an innovative new planning designation, the Environmentally Sensitive Landscape.  There are now two of these, one centred on the Laurel Creek headwaters just northwest of the City of Waterloo and the second on the northwest corner of Cambridge.  A third is now being prepared for designation in part of North Dumphries.  The original guidelines for development restrictions in the proposed ESLs included limits on aggregate extraction, but the MNR made sure that that was deleted.  So, as things stand now, the ESL designation allows no developments like golf courses or machine shops - but allows gravel pits!

If any of you are working with Environmental Defence, please ask them to put on some glasses with wider horizons and think outside the box.  The Greenbelt, a good idea in principle,  has inadvertently turned out to be a big threat to Waterloo Region.  Environmental Defence's campaign to narrow the choices for gravel extraction even more through expanding the Greenbelt needs some re-thinking along complex-systems lines and some thoughtful fine-tuning.

- Greg Michalenko
________________________________________
From: all-bounces at gren.ca [all-bounces at gren.ca] On Behalf Of Louisette Lanteigne [butterflybluelu at rogers.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 11:09 AM
To: all at gren.ca
Subject: [All] Ban Quarries and quarry expansion: Environmental Defence

Environmental Defence is urging the Ontario government to allow no new quarries or quarry expansions in the Greenbelt and to extend greenspace protection into the Town of Oakville and Brant County.

It supports calls to expand the belt into Guelph, Oakville, Markham, Brant, Mississauga, Toronto and Prince Edward County.

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/731968

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