Thurston County Approves Taylor/Arcadia Geoduck Farm Permits

"Small steps towards a cumulative impact analysis being required were taken."

If facts at the time of the review warrant cumulative impact analysis under then-applicable law, it shall be conducted during the review. [click here for permit approvals]

The Thurston County Hearing Examiner has approved the Shoreline Substantial Development Permits from Arcadia Point Seafood (on the Thiesen and McClure tideland parcels) and Taylor Shelllfish (on the Lockhart tideland parcel) for new geoduck farms in Henderson Inlet. While the Examiner noted there was not sufficient evidence presented to warrant a cumulative impact analysis at this point in time, a "Condition" for reconsideration of this requirment after harvesting, or 7 years, was made part of the permit. 

A cumulative impact analysis would have been appropriate now, especially in light of the denial of a permit for Taylor Shellfish's mussel farm permit (currently being appealed by Taylor Shellfish before the Shoreline Hearings Board). However, a small step towards analyzing the combined impacts from numerous "small" individual geoduck farms was taken by the Hearing Examiner.

A house built of cards will fall.



In time, science will catch up and weaknesses in current "science" used to support these tideland developments will evolve. Scientists, and agency personnel responsible for protecting Puget Sound will find it important enough to come forward. Until then, citizens will continue to push back on attempts by the shellfish industry to lessen regulatory oversight of their developments in the tidelands of Puget Sound, such as that seen in Seattle Shellfish's lawsuit against the Army Corps.

In that complaint, Seattle Shellfish is saying the Corps, Fish and Wildlife, and NMFS should just accept the fact that the shellfish industry supplied them with inaccurate information in 2007 and should now allow expansion with no further review. They feel evaluations and assessments written by geoduck farmers should be accepted without question. Papers written as Master's Thesis by graduate students should be accepted as peer-reviewed. It is a house of cards folding in on itself. [click here for recent post]

You can help support efforts to preserve Puget Sound's tideland habitat through reasonable regulation by contributing to Case Inlet Shoreline Association, APHETI or Protect Our Shoreline. All are 501c3 non-profit organizations dedicated to preserving Puget Sound's habitat.