LOCAL GRAVEL PITS AGAIN

There have been two recent articles in the Waterloo Region Record titled "Puslinch council pushes for a pause at gravel pit" (May 21/21) and today's article titled "Group asks, how many gravel pits are enough?". Both these articles were written by Leah Gerber. The first article is concerned with declining ground and surface water levels in ponds and wetlands near a below water table gravel pit on Roszell Rd. in Puslinch. Puslinch residents and council want a pause in the below water table extraction until they find out for certain if the gravel pit extraction is the cause. .............................................................................................................. The second article is in regards to the proposed Hallman Pit near Shingletown in Wilmot Township. Apparently this pit if approved will be the ninth gravel pit located within a three kilometre radius. Ontario uses on average 160 million tonnes of gravel per year and produces on average 170 million tonnes per year. Clearly the number of gravel pits currently exceeds the volumes required hence there is actually gravel stockpiled. Therefore, especially with eight other pits nearby, why is the Hallman Pit required? The answer is that it isn't needed. The problem is faulty provincial legiclation insisting that states that a demonstration of need for gravel is not required when a company wants a license to start a new gravel pit. .......................................................................................................... I think that most honest, unbiased people would see that as ridiculous. There are a number of environmental and human health impacts from gravel pits so why open new ones unnecessarily? Probably the answer continues to be that the Sand & Aggregate industry have been big donors to both the Liberal and Conservative governments over the decades and they expect something in return.