Province halts commercial sand mining on P.E.I beaches
The Guardian
Regulatory changes approved by the province will stop commercial sand mining on Prince Edward Island beaches, Environment, Energy and Forestry Minister Richard Brown says.
Brown said that cabinet had revoked the Sand Removal from Beaches Regulations under the Environmental Protection Act and had made amendments to the Watercourse and Wetland Protection Regulations in order to allow the removal of small amounts of sand for personal use.
“The Island’s beaches are important areas and critically important in the protection of our shorelines from erosion. Commercial sand removal undermines the ability of beaches to protect shores from water and wave damage,” said Brown.
“By limiting sand removal to small amounts intended for personal use, we will help sustain the health of our shorelines.”
The amendments to the Watercourse and Wetland Protection Regulations will allow for sand removal to occur from beaches without a permit if:
• the sand is hauled directly from the beach to the point of use (no stockpiling)
• it is loaded manually without the use of heavy equipment
• removal occurs below the mean high-water mark
• it is hauled off the beach in a small capacity vehicle (such as half-ton truck) with a volume of sand not exceeding one cubic metre
Sand removal using heavy equipment will still be allowed in cases where removal is necessary to improve navigation in and out of harbours.
With the exception of removal to aid navigation, no permits for sand removal have been issued on Prince Edward Island since 2008.
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Dano from Ch'town from PEI writes: Why was this ever allowed anyway?? This island has already been proven to be eroding, why would we allow somone to help it by removing our sand?? Either I'm glad somone found this and had it stopped
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Business operator 1 from [e writes: government should stay out of the private sector. Over-regulation is killing island businesses.
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Bill from PE writes: I am totally confused here, They are saying in one law that if you get caught on a beach with a motor vehicle, such as a car, you will get a huge fine, and now Mr. Brown is saying that if sand is manually loaded onto a half ton truck it is okay.
Are we supposed to carry shovels full of sand to the road one by one if we want to fill our child's sand box????
How about putting some legislation against burning toxic chemicals by companies after dark, like the one in particular that I can think of over on the Mason Road, I know Mr. Brown know where this business is for sure, after all he is there most of the time.
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