Welcome to Grindstone Park!

January 20, 2012

To: All Cottagers of Hecla Grindstone Provincial Park

From: The Grindstone Cottagers Cottage Owners Association

You may have heard on the news or in the newspapers recently that there is a licensing process happening right now to approve a peat-mining application by Sun Gro Horticulture at Hay Point Bog on Grindstone Point. The application is for a 45 year permit to mine peat over 531 hectares at this location, which is approximately 6 to 8 km down Grindstone Road.

There are a number of environmental groups who are reading the proposal from Sun Gro and the SouL Committee of GCOA is one of them. Mo Tipples and a small committee are currently reviewing this extensive document and plan to send a letter outlining concerns that our Association has with respect to peat mining and cottage developments/safety/environmental issues. This is a long, complicated process and the GCOA is indebted to Mo for her leadership at this time.

This is an urgent request to have cottagers at Grindstone send a letter of concern to Manitoba Conservation’s Environmental Assessment and Licensing Branch, if you are concerned about:

Safety of cottagers using Grindstone Road:

Condition of Grindstone Road – this road was not constructed for continuous use of semi-trailer traffic. Pre-existing conditions of extensive wash boarding at “mile 3” entrance to the park would be worsened.

Dust – dust from large vehicles would make the road dangerous for cottagers and dust control limits the grading that could be done on the road, making the road even more unstable/rough for light car traffic

Fire Safety:

With only one road to access over 400 cottages (including some permanent residences) the danger of fire is a major concern. Mb Conservation has expressed this concern (Wpg. Free Press, Jan. 12, 2012) as our cottages are considered downwind from prevailing winds during the summer months when peat would be harvested.

Environmental Issues:

Lake Winnipeg is the most endangered great lake in Canada, with disconcerting water quality issues. Peat bogs are a natural water filtration solution, which improves the health of the lake. The recently enacted Save Lake Winnipeg Act banned more peat quarry permits. We should not allow this project, only a few hundred meters from the shores of Lake Winnipeg to proceed.

Importance of peat to the environment – see Jean-Guy Pageau’s letter to the editor, Wpg Free Press, Jan. 12, 2012.

The Grindstone cottagers have shown that they are concerned about protecting the environment in our Provincial Park by supporting the work of the SouL Committee over the past 6 years. Cottagers have appreciated receiving educational materials and have made many efforts to reduce negative impacts on the environment. A recent enhanced review of water management at cottages, by Conservation (summer, 2010), highlighted very few inadequacies which were corrected in a timely manner.

If you are concerned about the proposed 45-year peat mine in our provincial park, and/or you have safety concerns about the road, and/or you have fire safety concerns, and/or you have environmental concerns about peat mining, please copy the form letter below (or write your own) and mail it to:

Darrell Ouimet
Manitoba Conservation
Environmental Assessment and Licensing Branch (EALB)
Suite 160, 123 Main Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 1A5

You could also cc: Hon. Greg Selinger, Premier’s Office
Honorable Gordon McIntosh, Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship

Your MLA
Legislative Building,
450 Broadway
Winnipeg, MB.
R3C 0V8

Or you can send an email expressing your concerns to Darrell Ouimet at Darrell.Ouimet@gov.mb.ca.

IMPORTANT: Whether you send a letter or an email, you must include the public registry file number in your writing: Hay Point Peat Mining file number 5548.00. If your submission does not include this detail, it will not be put on the public record or ‘count’ against the peat mine application.

If you are emailing the letter, please put Hay Point Peat Mining file # 5548.00 in the subject line.

For a sample letter please click here: Hay_Point_-_cottager_form_letter

Darrell Ouimet, Environment Officer. Darrell.ouimet@gov.mb.ca (This person is the most important contact as he forwards it on to other departments of the Government.)
Hon.Gordon Mackintosh, Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship mincon@leg.gov.mb.ca
Premier Selinger premier@leg.gov.mb..ca

To learn more about peat mining in Manitoba generally and the proposed Hay Point peat bog mine in particular, visit these sites: