3,400 violations for Ontario aggregate industry: Report

A scathing report from Ontario’s Auditor General is being hailed as a wake up call for Ontario’s aggregate industry.

“These pits are destructive to the environment, impact water quality, and are dangerous and costly to the public,” said Judi Smelko, leader of the Saugeen Preservation Society.

Ontario’s Auditor General didn’t go that far, but his report said there isn’t enough oversight of the growing aggregate industry and that’s causing problems.

“Limited inspection and enforcement, and the lack of experienced inspectors, means the province is not doing enough to maintain a balance between the need for aggregates for Ontario’s growing population, and the need to minimize the impacts of aggregate operations on the environment and communities,” said Ontario’s Acting Auditor General, Nick Stavropoulos.

In his Dec. 6, 2023 report, Stavropoulos found that only 35 per cent of Ontario’s sand, stone and gravel pits were inspected over the past five years, and between 36 and 52 per cent of them were compliant.

Of the 3,400 violations, less than one per cent were referred for enforcement.

“This lax environment has surely contributed to the gravel rush of applications we’re experiencing right now. These companies have free rein to do as they please with no consequences, and everyone wants in on the game,” said Smelko, who is fighting three gravel pits near the Saugeen River.

Not so, said Mike McSweeney, the executive director of Ontario’s Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association.

While he welcomes the AG’s report, he’s says he’s proud of the industry’s 100-plus year track record. He said numbers showed 1,524 Ontario aggregate sites with valid permits sitting dormant for the past 10 years, and 257 with no activity for 25 years, isn’t about companies avoiding their rehabilitation responsibilities, it’s about timing.

“You just don’t close down an aggregate pit or rehabilitate an aggregate pit until you’ve extracted the majority of the aggregate that is there,” said McSweeney.

He added, while there’s room for improvement in the aggregate industry, stone, sand and gravel is in almost every building and road in Ontario, and will be for the foreseeable future.

“Aggregate is here to stay. It’s an indispensable part of the building materials industry and we need more good quality aggregate, not less,” he said.

Meanwhile, Smelko and similar groups fighting proposed gravel pits in Ontario are calling for a moratorium on new gravel pit approvals, starting today.

“Putting a hold on more applications will stop adding more pits to the problem, while the province takes advantage of the report and works on fixing its aggregate resource management problem,” she said.