Land Planning Appeal Tribunal 2019
We have received Participant Status at the upcoming Land Planning Appeal Tribunal and will once again be represented by the Canadian Environmental Law Association.
ARA Standing Committee on Justice Policy
Aggregate Resources Act (ARA)
Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT):
In 2014, the MOECC issued a one year PTTW for the Long’s Quarry. The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) filed a successful Leave to Appeal on CAMQ’s behalf. The Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) heard the case in May, 2015. In the final report, ERT case no., some of the Tribunal’s remarks and findings are:
- This region contains one low yielding, vulnerable aquifer from which residents can draw drinking water.
- In its “Analysis and Findings,” the ERT report [205] (Lindgren, Castrilli, and Fleming) questioned why 300 domestic well users and farmers within a 2 kilometer area would not trigger studies
- The nearest municipal water supply is 20 km away
- The aquifer immediately surrounding the Long’s Quarry has already been largely drained
- The proposed Melrose Quarry would double the extraction footprint
- The ERT report [217] recommended that the need for a cumulative impact study be reassessed by the Director if the Melrose Quarry was approved (Lindgren, Castrilli, and Fleming )
- Citizens took financial responsibility for hydrogeological studies required to inform CELA’s legal team
- Complaint records held by the proponent are not consistent with the historical record; citizens are often unable to identify the correct agency through which to lodge complaints
In her 2015 review, Dianne Saxe, the Environmental Commissioner for Ontario at the time, reviewed this hearing and concluded: “Is this really the best way to protect and allocate groundwater?” Her review is available here.
Documents for Case No. 14-092, delivered by member Hugh S. Wilkins, are archived at Environmental & Land Tribunals Ontario (ELTO) and may be viewed by typing in case number 14-092.