While pleased to see early drafts of Voluntary Responsible Aggregate Extraction Standards via the Cornerstone Standards Council (CSC), Puslinch Mayor Dennis Lever is curious about how those standards will play out.
Correspondence to Puslinch councillors noted in June 2012, Socially and Environmentally Responsible Aggregate (SERA) and Aggregate Forum of Ontario (AFO) merged to form the CSC.
The new organization brings together the strengths of SERA’s draft standards and standards development process with the AFO’s sector knowledge and work on the design of a credible certification system.
The intent is to work collaboratively with industry leaders, environmental organizations, community groups, municipalities and provincial government as well as aggregate purchasers to create certification standards that will achieve measurable environmental, social and economic benefits.
As a result of the AFO-SERA merger, the Standards Development Panel has recently been expanded and strengthened and is now tackling the revisions to address site selection, environmental stewardship, human health, resource efficiency and traceability.
In the coming months the panel will release the First Draft Standards including a 60-day consultation period.
During this consultation period they will seek comments on all of the principles through a number of activities including presentations, mini-town-hall meetings and online information sessions.
Puslinch Mayor Dennis Lever said there are a number of principles involved.
Council had received draft information on the first four, while others were anticipated shortly.
“Personally, I am interested to see how they plan to address some of the social impacts regarding applications.”
He was also pleased to see noise on haul routes and time limits on operations were included in the discussions.
Lever added that there is local involvement in this group.
He stressed “these will be voluntary standards, but hopefully it will improve the relationship between producers and the surrounding municipalities and the residents.”
