Sun Gro Canada has applied for an Environment Act license for the proposed "Hay Point Peat Mine Development (Public Registry file #5548.00)" inside Hecla / Grindstone Provincial Park.

The proposed peat extraction project has not been approved and the public is being encouraged to submit comments to Darell Ouimet (darrell.ouimet[at]gov.mb.ca) at the Environmental Assessment and Licensing Branch (EALB). EALB is required to consider the comments received when making a licensing decision. Comments must be submitted by February 3, 2012 and include a reference to Public Registry file #5548.00, Hay Point Peat Mine Development."

Yet the licensing process is still moving forward despite: 1) a new law, The Save Lake Winnipeg Act, enacted June 2011 that the Manitoba Government claimed would stop rapid expansion of the peat industry in Manitoba; and 2) concerns raised by Manitoba Conservation Parks & Natural Areas branch that the proposed peat mine at Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park could pose a fire risk for cottagers, damage the park's only road and harm habitat for Manitoba's dwindling moose population.

According to information obtained by Manitoba Wildlands from the Manitoba Government, 184 peat quarry leases have been granted in Manitoba meaning that more than 30,000 hectares peat lands could potentially be subject to peat mining – almost twice as much as the 17,000 hectares of peat land currently in production across Canada.