Inverhaugh residents appeal gravel pit ruling to premier

A group of Inverhaugh residents has appealed to Premier Dalton McGuinty to overturn a gravel pit decision it lost at the Ontario Municipal Board.

Resident Jim Zimmerman has written a lengthy letter to the premier, asking for a moratorium on gravel pit approvals until the process for approving them has changed and the environment is taken into consideration.

In making his plea, Zim­merman cites support for his ideas from members of all three political parties in the legislature, plus Elizabeth May of the Green Party, and even cites Barak Obama, who will run for President of the United States for the Democrats later this fall.

Zimmerman lists com­plaints the group has been bringing since the pit proposal came about several years ago.

He concluded his lengthy letter (carried in full at www.­wellingtonadvertiser.co) by stating, “We plead with you on behalf of the residents of In­verhaugh, of Cen­tre Well­ing­ton, and, indeed, on behalf of all Ontarions, to intervene now to avert this preventable en­vironmental cal­amity.

“Mr. McGuinty, will you agree to visit us in Inverhaugh to see for yourself what it is we have to lose, and why we are so upset?”

There was a time when there was a formal appeal process for Ontario Municipal Board decisions. People who lost their case at that hearing could appeal to the Ontario cabinet. However, that appeal pro­cess was removed in the 1980s, and most OMB de­cisions now remain final.