Reader says green gravel is not so simple

David Penny of the Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute responds to the article, “Highways Specifications Should Require Green Gravel, say Campaigners.”
The article was posted September 10 on this web site. It related to a campaign by the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance.
Penny writes: “‘Green gravel’ has a nice ring to it but there appears to be an alternate not in my back yard agenda (NIMBY) that may be driving some of the initial restrictions.
“To outright ban extraction from the Niagara Escarpment and the Oak Ridges Morraine will only push the gravel source farther from the user and increase environmental costs related to transportation and transfer the impact to other communities, as is the current practice with Toronto’s garbage.
“Banning extraction of gravel from the glacial tills of southern Ontario is like banning fishing in the ocean. You have to fish where the fish are and you have to eat.”
David J. Penny, BES
Marketing Manager
Corrugated Steel Pipe Institute
Cambridge, Ont.