Halton Hills requests temporary moratorium on gravel pit licenses
Published February 10, 2022 at 12:11 pm
Halton Hills Town Council has passed a motion in support of the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition campaign for a temporary prohibition on new gravel mining applications in the Province of Ontario.
The Town has recently taken this stand against the supply of gravel licenses, noting environmental impacts, increased truck traffic and the rights of First Nations for quarries sited on treaty lands.
Mayor Rick Bonnette, who introduced the motion said, “There are over 5000 pits and quarries located throughout Ontario. All it seems you have to do today is buy a hundred acres of land, hire some consultants and next thing you know you’ve applied for a quarry. They are popping up all over Ontario. We have approved similar resolutions in the past but this is an all-encompassing one that includes important consultation with First Nations and affected communities.”
The motion also noted that there were already over 5,000 licensed pits and quarries in Ontario.
“It’s time that we take a look at this industry and impose a moratorium so we can look at the need for new gravel licenses,” added Bonnette, while recognizing that current sites were enough to meet the construction industry’s projected immediate demand.
The resolution called on the province to impose an immediate, temporary moratorium on all new gravel mining applications pending a broad consultation process with stakeholders, develop criteria and processes for determining the need for new gravel licenses and updating policies and procedures for mining below the water table.
Videos
Additionally, the resolution called on the province to develop new guidelines for reprocessing to ensure sustainable aggregate supplies, recommend a fair levy for gravel mining and provide greater weight to municipal input in order to lessen the social impacts from mining operations and trucking through local communities.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising