An environmental group is decrying the "rush" to mine peat near Riverton along the western shores of Lake Winnipeg.

The Wilderness Committee said new peat extraction proposals continue to pop up despite a ban on new leases under the province’s Save Lake Winnipeg Act in 2010. That’s because peat mining companies already held a plethora of leases before the act was proclaimed.

Late last month, Sunterra Horticulture Canada applied to the province for a licence to expand its existing peat mine development on Crown land at Beaver Point bog north of Riverton.

Advertisements announcing the proposal were carried in two provincial newspapers, including the Free Press. Anyone wishing to comment on the project has until Tuesday to do so by emailing Darrell Ouimet, environmental officer, Conservation and Water Stewardship Department at darrell.ouimet@gov.mb.ca.

The Wilderness Committee released a map today which it said shows the "massive footprint" the current "peat rush" could have on Lake Winnipeg. The map shows both proposed and existing peat mines.

"Companies have submitted lots of fancy 400-page mine proposals in the last two years, yet not one of them bothered to show the truly massive impact their new peat mines will collectively have around Lake Winnipeg," said Eric Reder, the Wilderness Committee's Manitoba Campaign Director.

Environmental groups and cottagers have also condemned a proposal by another peat mine company, Sun Gro Horticulture, in Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park.

Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh said the province will make a decision on that proposal by fall.