HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH AND DO WE HAVE ENOUGH?

James Dick, the company who was defeated after a 10 year battle with ratepayers in Caledon, has now applied for a license to extract dolomite on a 100 acre parcel near Rockford (Guelph-Eramosa) http://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/index.cfm?page=detail&itmno=16818

So just how much aggregate do we need, are we running out like Moreen Miller (aka the Chicken Little of the Ontario Stone Sand Gravel and Association) would have us believe?

 

OR do we believe Dr. Jensen who says we have 200 years left?

“SAROS states that there is a serious shortage of aggregate resources on the horizon, when in reality, the MNR’s Aggregate Licensing and Permitting System (ALPS) database shows reserves in existing pits/quarries of between 50 to 70 years supply of material, while other experts such as Dr. Larry Jensen, PHD Geoscience, calculates from 120 to over 200 years. For his calculations,

Dr. Jensen uses figures from both TOARC (the industry’s Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association is the sole shareholder of The Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation) and from ALPS.”
http://stonecoldtruth2011.wordpress.com//?s=200+years&search=Go

How could we answer this question and put it to rest? 

Well the rich, rich, rich aggregate industry could map AND PUBLISH all the current/existing pits and quarries, with all information, date of existence, amount per year extracted, life span left and type of material being extracted and map all existing deposits that have the potential for extraction.

But that of course would take money out of THEIR pockets.

So, who is supposed to do this?

The ever beleagured taxpayers, of course.

1) The Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) requires that Municipalities identify and map all aggregate deposits in their areas. This of course, will be paid for by the Municipalities, or taxpayers. This would be akin to the Federal government (taxpayers) inventorying all gold and oil deposits, so that private companies would not have to spend their money and time to complete these very expensive tasks themselves. An example – the Town of Caledon completed this exercise in 1999 to 2001 at a cost of approximately three million taxpayer dollars.
http://stonecoldtruth2011.wordpress.com//?s=MUNICIPALITY&search=Go