Superior Court Orders Drakes Bay Oyster Company to Comply with Coastal Commission's 2007 Cease and Desist Consent Order and 2013 Cease and Desist Order's Interim Use Provisions

Update 7/30: The Marin Indepent Journal has reported that Drakes Bay Oyster Company has asked Marin Superior Court Judge Duryee to reconsider her ruling that DBOC must comply with the California Coastal Commission's interim use provisions contained in the most recent Cease and Desist order. The interim environmental protection measures which Mr. Lunny had previously been willing to act on is something he no longer agrees with.
Update 7/19: Superior Court Judge Duryee's ruling that Drakes Bay Oyster Company must comply with the California Coastal Commission (CCC) 2013 Cease and Desist Order's interim use provisions has generated numerous articles, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, KTVU News, and the Marin Independent Journal . All have noted DBOC must comply with the coastal regulations it has either violated or ignored. It was far from what attorneys representing Phyllis Faber and DBOC had asked for, which included "Issuance of a declaratory judgment that the Commissions Orders were unlawful". 

DBOC must act on, among other things, the removal of the non-native invasive manila clams; creation of a management plan to prevent the growth and spread of the non-native and invasive tunicate Didemnum vexillum; limit production of shellfish to 2007 levels; and, to develop an operational debris management plan. While DBOC implied the CCC was attempting to "shut them down", in fact what the CCC was trying to get DBOC to do was comply with the coastal regulations we all are supposed to work within. It was something DBOC agreed to in 2007 but simply ignored. 

They said what?
Unlike the others news outlets, the San Francisco Sentinel declares the ruling forcing DBOC to address the numerous coastal regulations it has been in violation of a "Major Victory" for DBOC. It goes on to devote a large portion of the "reporting" to what can only be described as a "Karl Rove" discourse on Amy Trainer, Executive Director of the West Marin Environmental Action Committee, the EAC and CCC with broad unsubstantiated statements. SFS might consider first vetting its news sources before simply publishing a press release, from whomever they received it from.

Update 7/18: Drakes Bay Oyster Company may no longer ignore the 2007 California Coastal Commission's Consent Order No. CCC-07-CD-04 (beginning on page 17) signed and agreed to by Mr. Lunny November 29, 2007. Further, DBOC must also comply with the 2013 Cease and Desist Order's interim use provisions CCC-13-CD-01 (a 42mb file - Section V, starting on page 132).

 

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For Immediate Release                                                                                   

July 18, 2013

 

Contact:

Amy Trainer, Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, 415.306.6052

Gordon Bennett, Save Our Seashore, 415.663.1881 

Court Order Requires Drakes Bay Oyster Company to Comply With Coastal Act

Company Must Remove Invasive Clams, Clean up Marine Vomit, and End Plastic Pollution

 

Point Reyes, California.  The controversial Drakes Bay Oyster Company will be required to remove the invasive Manila clams it planted, manage its invasive “marine vomit” problem that coats its oysters, and finally address the significant amounts of the company’s plastic debris that has polluted beaches all over the Point Reyes National Seashore according to a court ruling yesterday afternoon. Marin County Superior Court Judge Lynn Duryee sided with the California Coastal Commission and ruled that the Drakes Bay Oyster Company must take immediate steps to comply with the 2007 and 2013 [2013 file is 42mb, a result of DBOC attorney's last minute "document dump"] Cease and Desist Orders, which mitigate some, but not all, of the company’s ongoing environmental harm to the national park wilderness area.

 

 “Since inception, the Drakes Bay Oyster Company has been operating illegally as if basic regulations that protect our spectacular coastline don’t apply to it,” said Amy Trainer, executive director of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin. “The court’s ruling supports what the public has known for years: this unsustainable oyster company that pollutes beaches, fosters the spread of invasive species, and causes harbor seal disturbance has no place in a national park wilderness area.”

The court ruling is the latest to reprimand the oyster company for its lack of compliance with coastal protection laws, including its failure to: comply with the production cap established in 2007, remove all the invasive Manila clams and Didemnum vexillim “marine vomit,” clean up its plastic debris pollution, remove several pressure-treated wooden racks that are outside the permit area, and stay out of protected habitat for harbor seals.

The Drakes Bay Oyster Company, which was removed from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Partner list more than 3 years ago, is being supported by the Koch brothers funded Pacific Legal Foundation and Americans For Prosperity in its quest to commercialize Drakes Estero Wilderness. Yesterday’s court ruling follows on the heels of this week’s news that California River Watch is preparing to sue the oyster company for violating the Clean Water Act.