The Government of Alberta released the final report from Sand and Gravel Task Force. The Task Force met over the spring and summer in 2025 to identify recommendations to policies and implementation processes aimed at balancing environmental protection with economic development. The report’s recommendations are limited by the Task Force’s scope to “the provincial role as related to regulation of pits on private land”. These recommendations are grouped into four themes:
- Policy actions
- Process streamlining
- Support for industry
- Balancing economic development and environmental assurance
RMA participated on the Task Force, providing the municipal perspective on the various policy issues explored. Unfortunately, the final report does not reflect all of the input RMA provided. While the final report does remain focused on the provincial approval process, there are several items of concern:
- The report identifies an opportunity for future work for the Government of Alberta to seek for municipalities to restrict development in areas identified as sand and gravel reserves. While understanding that aggregate is a vital non-renewable resource, such a move would significantly impact municipal autonomy.
- The report identifies that in the future the Government of Alberta could assume a “primary role in regulatory authorizations for pits that are considered high impact of have generational significance”. While the report does go on to say doing so would need clear guidelines, this suggestion is of concern as it implies limiting or removing the input of rural municipalities in these cases.
- The report does not specifically name an “automatic yes” approach to approving pits, however, it does make recommendations related to other standardizations for approvals. In principle streamlining the approval process may be supported, however, the implementation of this recommendation must account for local conditions such as environmentally sensitive areas, water risks, and proximity to other development.
RMA will continue to analyze the report and explore next steps.
Sahaj Kaur
Policy Advisor
825.319.2400
sahaj@rmalberta.com
Warren Noga
Manager of Policy and Research
825.319.2285
warren@rmalberta.com