It’s time to stop arguing about past spills from a local gravel pit and move on to ensure the extraction operation has no future impact on nearby Mill?Creek.
That was the message Puslinch councillor Don McKay brought to a meeting last week about operations at Dufferin Aggregates’ Mill Creek gravel pit, located south of the 401 near the Hanlon Expressway exit.
McKay said all parties involved – including neighbour John Johnston, the township, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), the pit operator and the University of Guelph, which owns the property – acknowledge there were “spills” into the Mill Creek in 2002 and last spring.
“What’s done is done,” McKay said. “We can argue all day and it’s not going to change the past.”
He sad he is not dismissing the actions of Dufferin Aggregate officials, who he said neglected to inform council of the incidents in a timely manor.
According to Johnston, Dufferin Aggregates and the MNR were slow to take any action after the spills.
Johnston said dirty surface water flowed from the pit property across his fields and into the creek on April 9, 2009. He told council Dufferin Aggregate officials, who had been removing trees and brush in the area to prepare for future extraction, took a week to take any remedial action.
And MNR inspectors did not arrive until eight weeks after the incident, Johnston added.
Dufferin Aggregates site manager Ron Van Ooteghem disagreed with Johnston’s timeline, and MNR area supervisor Al Murray, while unsure of the exact dates, acknowledged the ministry’s response “wasn’t in a timely fashion.”
However, pit officials stated groundwater in the area has always travelled along a swale towards the creek, and Murray said there was “no evidence” that the 2009 spill had any impact on the creek.
He said “there’s no doubt” in his mind dirty water reached the creek, and while that may look bad, “The creek didn’t even hardly notice.”
MNR officials came to a similar conclusion in May 2002, when water from a pond ran over a berm and into the creek.
Councillors Dick Visser and Susan Fielding said there is no wonder the ministry found no impact, considering its inspection occurred two months after the spill.
“Eight weeks is not acceptable,” Fielding said.
Visser questioned the ministry’s findings after the 2002 and 2009 spills, calling such government agencies “toothless” and unwilling to act until there is a major violation.
Councillor Matthew Bulmer wondered aloud if there is a double standard when it comes to spills into the creek.
“The perception, whether it’s real or not, is [gravel companies] can do it but [residents] can’t,” Bulmer said. “That’s my concern … Once in a while we need to see that [gravel operators] are held accountable.”
Bulmer added residents are already skeptical of the gravel industry and the MNR and said, “It’s a timely response that makes the difference and builds trust.”
Murray explained each MNR inspector has about 300 licences to monitor, and thus they may not get to each gravel pit every year.
However, he said the ministry annually visits the Dufferin Aggregates pit three to five times.
“The Mill Creek site is one of the most monitored aggregate operations in the province,” he said.
Background
Visser first brought up the alleged violations during an April 21 Puslinch council meeting, when he also wondered about the company’s tree removal practices and alleged the company may be extracting gravel beyond the boundary set in the aggregate licence.
“There are a lot of things on that property that are not kosher,” said Visser, who told council he visited the property recently after meeting with Johnston.
“Dufferin Aggregates needs to do some explaining.”
Murray said in an email to the Advertiser, “There has been no evidence whatsoever found by MNR that Dufferin is extracting outside of the licensed extractive boundaries of the site.”
As for the spills, Murray said, “Both cases were dealt with properly and to the Ministry’s satisfaction … and no long-term harm was done to the natural environment.”
Kevin Mitchell, Dufferin Aggregates’ manager of land development and geology, said the 2002 and 2009 spills occurred during periods of heavy rain.
In addition to the MNR inspection, in both cases officials from the Ministry of the Environment and the Grand River Conservation Authority visited to inspect, Mitchell noted.
Visser wondered why?gravel pit operators tore down a lot of trees on the site and left them in piles, rather than cleaning them up.
“They have just obliterated a swath of forest,” he charged at the April 21 meeting.
Van Ooteghem explained the trees were left that way as a promise to Johnston – after he complained – to do no more work in that area for a while.
Some of the old stumps will be used in ongoing rehabilitation efforts on the site, Van Ooteghem added, and the rest will be chipped into mulch – not burned. He also noted the company tries to plant as many trees as possible to offset the loss.
Murray explained any trees in the licensed extraction area can be removed as part of the operation.
“To the MNR’s knowledge any tree removal occurring on the site is being done within the extractive area and is an allowable activity at the site as per the site plans and license conditions for the site,” he said.
Visser concluded his comments at the council meeting last month by wondering what type of impact the gravel pit has on the nearby Mill Creek and questioning how often the MNR has inspected the site.
Murray and Mitchell confirmed MNR officials have visited the Dufferin Aggregates pit several times a year since its inception – or over a dozen site visits in the last five years.
In addition to complaint responses and discussions about operations and monitoring, MNR officials have also used the site “as an excellent example of a well-run aggregate operation coexisting with a very sensitive surrounding natural environment,” Murray said.
“The Mill Creek site … is the best example to demonstrate complex relationships between aggregate extraction, groundwater, and sensitive natural environments coexisting successfully.”
He added monitoring at the site “has largely showed no impacts from extraction at all.”
For their part, Mitchell and Van Ooteghem say Dufferin?Aggregates always follows the ministry’s guidelines and upholds a policy of openness and transparency.
