On October 14, 2008, it was decided to abandon our appeal of the latest, and supposedly last, short-term permit to pump water at Leitrim Wetland.
The Permit was valid until September 30 and the Ministry has given strong indication that no extension or further short-term permit will be issued.
Another short-term Permit, which came to light only recently, is for surface water diversion (up to 32.4 million liters/day) and remains in effect until November 30, 2008.
It is recognized and acknowledged that, should the Ministry issue a 10-year Permit (which would cover both pumping and surface water diversion), the Greenspace Alliance and the Sierra Club are likely to seek leave to appeal to the Environmental Review Tribunal.
While this was now the prudent decision to take, it should be noted that the developer has succeeded in delaying our application for Leave to Appeal by raising questions about the admissibility of the appeal and the qualification of one of our experts and also alleging that there had been trespass. As the comment elsewhere notes, these were all unsuccessful. The latest motion was then for declaring the application moot. Neither the Ministry nor the developer had yet filed papers with the Tribunal in reply to our Application for Leave to Appeal.