Editor:

This is an open letter to Abbotsford council on behalf of all Abbotsford residents adversely affected by excessive gravel mining.

The local gravel miners have irreparably scarified huge tracts of land in and around Abbotsford over the last 30 years. Take a look at what they’ve been up to on south Ross, Bradner, Huntingdon, Clearbrook, McKenzie and Vye roads, as well as Sumas Mountain, Barrowtown, etc.

If the gravel miners get their way, it’s going to get much worse.

Taxpaying citizens who have been adversely affected by gravel mining, in and around Abbotsford, are upset because their legitimate concerns continue to be ignored by the City of Abbotsford and the provincial government.

Abbotsford’s gravel miners have been much luckier; they’ve had powerful advocates at both the provincial and municipal levels. They’ve also had the good fortune of an unassailable, legislative advocate in the form of the Mines Act.

The outcome of gravel mining permits is cynical in its predictability. Public concerns are variously dismissed, trivialized, mocked and/or unacceptably mitigated. The Mines Act and various governmental advocates are invariably used to club down all opposition to further mining.

That’s no longer acceptable.

We do not understand why Abbotsford has become the Fraser Valley’s default-gravel-pit location. Why are we oversupplying our own needs by 334 per cent to meet other municipalities’ gravel vacuum?

The gravel miners and their government advocates refuse to provide taxpayers with an analysis of the gravel extraction costs that have been traditionally offloaded onto Abbotsford’s taxpayers. They all seemingly prefer to rely on the gravel miners’ math.

That’s no longer acceptable.

We ask that you consider advocating on behalf of your community by supporting the 10-point stance below:

– We urge you not accept further expansion of existing gravel mines.

– We urge you not accept new gravel mine permit approvals.

– We urge you to reduce the amount of gravel currently mined. Abbotsford’s supply must be balanced by Abbotsford’s demand for gravel.

– We urge the City of Abbotsford provide its citizens with an advocate to help protect our rights against the narrow interests of gravel miners.

– We urge you to make annual compensatory payments to all taxpaying residents who are adversely affected by the gravel mining in Abbotsford from annual fees collected from the gravel mining industry.

– We urge Abbotsford quadruple the “soils fees” rates currently collected from gravel miners.

– We urge you to invoke a reverse onus on gravel miners whenever compensatory claims for damages are made against them. It is currently virtually impossible, and entirely unreasonable, for individual taxpayers to successfully win compensation from the gravel mining industry for damage they cause to drinking water, building structures, etc.

– We urge you to initiate independent, arms-length, environmental assessments of all existing mines to determine the scope of the environmental damage being done by their operations

– We urge you to initiate independent, arms-length environmental assessments of all properties surrounding existing mines to determine the scope of the environmental damage being done by their operations.

– We urge you to initiate an independent, arms-length analysis of the true costs (including social factors, lifestyle, ecological, environmental, infrastructure degradation, and various other economic costs) of gravel extraction in our community. The results of that analysis should be used to help compensate our community, and various individuals, for the numerous cost burdens currently being foisted on us by the gravel mining industry.

We ask council to protect Abbotsford’s natural beauty, its habitat and its residents by supporting the 10-point community stance.

Will you advocate for your community and against the special, narrow interests of the gravel mining industry?

Walter Neufeld, Abbostford