pitsense

PROTECTING Our Escarpment
PitSense is a community of people organized to respond to proposals for further increases in the number and size of aggregate operations in Caledon.
We are opposed to the continuing 'Domino Effect' growth of open pit mines and quarries in the agricultural and rural residential areas of the Niagara Escarpment and UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

Our organization was established in early 2010 in order to evaluate and respond to the announcement of proposals for another open pit mine on the Escarpment. We have spent the ensuing 3+ years researching the many relevant issues and building a knowledge base. Please go to our Issues and Impacts page for discussions and links to information on specific issues. We have also established liaisons with other organizations that have similar or complementary goals. (on our Links page). We seek to persuade individuals of authority to understand and support our ideas for an equitable aggregate industry that respects the rights of its neighbours.

PitSense.ca is a work-in-progress so please check back here often for updated information.

We are very fortunate to have in our province an area that is recognized internationally as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Large parts of the Niagara Escarpment are also designated as 'Protected' areas, with 'Greenbelt', 'Oak Ridges Moraine', and 'Credit Valley Conservation Area' status as well. We seek to make these designations truly meaningful.

In order to do that we seek to:

1. Protect and enhance Caledon’s Niagara Escarpment, rural residential areas, and agricultural land

in the Region of Peel by:

- Opposing the unprincipled expansion of aggregate mines in the Town of Caledon

- Preserving vital ecosystems and natural habitats

- Protecting Endangered and Threatened animal and plant species

- Safeguarding rural water tables, wells, Provincially and Regionally Significant Wetlands and watercourses.

- Providing protection for property owners so that absentee corporate entities are no longer

permitted to move their operations in and profit at significant expense to local residents. We are advocating that the principles of Full Cost Accounting and Financial Assurance Agreements be applied to aggregate operations.

2. Preserve and enhance the quality of life in Ontario, with special focus on the Niagara Escarpment area by:

- Advocating for sustainable aggregate resource legislation for Ontario by providing a formal vehicle for the expression of concerns to regulatory agencies.

- Advocating for Green Gravel Standards and Green Gravel Certification (GGC) using market initiatives to reduce our ecological footprint, and increase environmental sustainability

- Assisting in the development of comprehensive Provincial and Regional policies and planning for

aggregate extraction in Ontario using sustainability principles, including the planning for appropriate

locations of future aggregate extraction/quarry/production sites

- Supporting enforcement of aggregate production regulations, laws and standards

- Promoting construction and demolition material recycling, mandated use of 'Green Gravel' material, and other conservation measures and alternative technologies.

3. Monitor the licensing of new extraction pits and quarries on the Niagara

Escarpment in Caledon by:

- Advocating that due regard be given to the Precautionary Principle in all

pertinent matters and due compensation be provided for all Negative Externalities

caused by the threat or existence of new mining operations.

- Opposing and defeating the application by Blueland Farms to develop a

below-water-table mine at 17736 Heart Lake Road

- Coordinating and strategizing with other like-minded organizations and

community groups

4. Ensure that the principle of a continuous natural corridor is upheld in the

Niagara Escarpment's UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve designation.

The Niagara Escarpment belongs to all of you, and to your children,

regardless of where you live.

Please contact us NOW to help protect this valuable heritage.

"An ounce of Prevention is better than a pound of cure."

To read our MANDATE ... click HERE

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"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

... Mahatma Gandhi

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Read our submission to the

Aggregate Resource Act

Review Committee HERE