Drakes Bay Oyster Company: Marine Reserve Plan Expresses Clearly the Importance of Protecting Intact Marine Ecosystems

"We run the risk of fundamentally breaking entire ecosystems."

John Kerry, Oceans Conference

 

Drakes Estero, part of the

Philip Burton Wilderness Area

 

Today the administration left no doubt about the importance placed on protecting some areas of marine ecosystems from commercial development. Through an Executive Order, President Obama announced his intention to create the world's largest marine protected area in the south-central Pacific Ocean. In an article printed in the New York Times, the president was quoted as saying:

"And like Presidents Clinton and Bush before me, I'm going to use my authority as president to protect some of our most precious  marine landscapes, just like we do for mountains and rivers and forests." President Obama

Doc Hastings complains about the "Imperial President" - which one?
Apparently forgetting about a similar Executive Order by President Bush creating a marine national monument near Hawaii, Republican Doc Hastings complained in a statement about how an "Imperial President" was preventing "energy production" through an "overreaching Executive action."

Drakes Bay Oyster Company's BFF leaving Congress
Doc Hastings (R-WA) has also complained about cessation of commercial activities in Drakes Estero which are preventing the completion of the Philip Burton Wilderness Area which Congress created, which he is a member of. Doc Hastings has announced he will not seek re-election this year, something future generations will come to appreciate as the long term benefits of intact ecosystems for all are seen to outweigh the short term economic benefits of the few.

May 14: Drakes Bay Oyster Company's Day in Court, Again

Update 5/15:
The East Bay Express reports that from questions asked by the three-judge panel it appears they will rule against Drakes Bay Oyster Company.
Earth Island Journal has an article by Amy Trainer on why it is time for Drakes Estero to be allowed to become the wilderness Congress intended it to become in 1972.

Drakes Estero (from Earth Island Journal)

Drakes Bay Oyster Company's Knot to Oil Gets Tighter

 "he urged a House subcommittee to open up part of

Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil drilling."

[click here]

 

Representative "Doc" Hastings

Republican, WA

The knot tying Drakes Bay Oyster Company to oil drilling in wilderness areas was pulled tighter today, this time by Washington state Representative "Doc" Hastings (R - Wa). As a strong proponent for opening wilderness areas to drilling and mineral extraction it is no surprise. Ironically, Representative Hastings was also strongly opposed to the proposed federal protection of the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound, within his own home state, recently put in place.

Who needs wilderness?
"There is a small but active element in the Republican element in the house that does not support wilderness," Spitzer of the Wilderness Society said. He holds Doc Hastings, the chair of the Natural Resources Committee, most accountable. [click here for article]

We hear what we want to hear.

You only hear yourself if your ears are plugged.
Continuing to ignore the fact that Congress intended for this final commercial operation in Drakes Estero to end in 2012, he continues with ongoing complaints about how irrelevant studies were implemented and interpreted. He writes that in 2009 Congress "authorized" Secretary Salazar to extend for another 10 years the farms authorization and special use permit but ignores the fact that the original 2009 rider was changed from "requiring" the extension to merely giving him the option. We hear what we want to hear. [click here for letter from Hastings]

Oops, I did it again!

Shell Oil drilling platform, grounded.



It's just about an oyster farm.
This issue is far beyond an oyster farm. Any doubts were dispelled when the conservative "Cause of Action," with clear ties to the conservative Koch Brothers, stepped in to provide legal support for the Lunny family. It was made more clear when Senator Vitter attached a rider to his energy bill which would have both required continued operation of the commercial farm and also removed the wilderness designation from Drakes Estero. [click here for article] The oil industry is clear in its wishing to dismantle the protections which the Wilderness Act brings to a small area for current and future generations. They see in the Lunny family's complaints about "big government" a window of opportunity to exploit an opportunity and have drawn in as pawns that family and well intentioned chefs. [click here for Huffington Post article] The objective in the gambit is to open the door for redefining what "wilderness" is and creating a "new environmentalism," a direct outfall of the "personification" of corporations.

Oyster racks in Drakes Estero.

"Wilderness" through corporate eyes.

Riding on the coat tails.
Riding on the coat tails of the oil industry is the shellfish industry who sees a golden opportunity to exploit one of the few remaining bodies of water available for industrial shellfish operations. Drakes Estero, with its clear waters and protected embayment, and minimal payments to the state, offers an economic opportunity for them to exploit further. Despite Tomales Bay and Humboldt Bay offering ample opportunities for reasonable development outside of this wilderness area, they have poured resources into fighting this through lobbyists and attorneys. Is it any wonder the largest shellfish company, Taylor Shellfish, is also located in Washington state which Representative Doc Hastings is from?

Bill Taylor, Taylor Shellfish

Wilderness in the forests is great,

not so in the tidelands.

Wilderness is good - just not on tidelands the shellfish industry uses.
Most ironic in all of what is unfolding in Drakes Estero is the support for expanding wilderness areas on the Olympic Peninsula. The Wild Olympics campaign is endorsed by Bill Taylor, owner of Taylor Shellfish. [click here for endorsement] Where is his support for the only designated shoreline wilderness area on the entire west coast? Clouded in the conversion of tidelands for shellfish production.

Geoduck shellfish farm in Puget Sound.

Coming to Drakes Estero?

The shellfish industry: canary in a coal mine or strip miners of the tidelands?
Doc Hastings may have found a new political donor.