Any effort at the local level to zone out an industry that society needs, and that is already regulated, is very short sighted. The County's 1998 study does not acknowledge that the county needs a stable, predictable, uninterrupted supply of aggregate resources. Economic development needs a continuing supply of aggregate resources. Everyone uses aggregate products. The County's 1998 study does not acknowledge that the aggregates industry is expanding as a positive economic activity in the Route 16 Corridor of Cattaraugus County.
Aggregate producers pay some of the highest private sector salaries and wages in the County.
They also provide hundreds of related employment opportunities for truckers, equipment suppliers, maintenance personnel and ancillary businesses. Gravel mining operators are one of the few land uses which receive less in local government services than they pay out in taxes. The County's 1998 study singles out the mining industry as a target of concern. The County's 1998 study has a pervasive, anti-mining undertone, an undertone that mining is incompatible with almost all other land uses. Aggregate mining, especially sand and gravel, can be very compatible and desirable with all other non-mining land uses.