Encouraging Responsible Management of Ontario's Aggregates

Ontario Pits: Case Studies

• Bowman Pit Case. Elora, Ontario, Canada. Neighbourhood opposition to expansion of pit. Government investigation under Environmental Bill of Rights of alleged violations including excavation into watertable.
• Puslinch Case. Opposition of Puslinch Township, Ontario, Canada against pits. This case determined the Province can impose its policies on a township, regardless of the township's position. Environmental Assessment and Aggregate Extraction in Southern Ontario: The Puslinch Case, by Douglas Baker, Faculty of Natural Resources & Environmental Studies, University of Northern British Columbia, and Darryl Shoemaker, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo, 1995.
• Mellon Lake Case. Mellon Lake is in eastern Ontario, northeast of Belleville, near highway 401. The NQ@ML (No Quarry at Mellon Lake) group has successfully opposed a quarry at Mellon Lake. However, there is yet another application for a quarry there.
• Dufferin Gap. This is the highly visible gouge in the cliff face of the Niagara Escarpment blasted out in 1962 before there were controls on Escarpment mining. This symbol of environmental destruction in the name of aggregate production can clearly be seen from highway 401 near Milton. See comments on the proposal by Dufferin Aggregates to expand the associated Milton (Halton) quarry. See CONE's comments on proposed extension to this quarry. The decision to allow this biggest quary in Canada to become bigger is here. Press release by CONE and POWER is here.