APHETI Provides an Update on Taylor Shellfish's 58 Raft Mussel Farm Proposal

Background (update follows): For almost 20 years APHETI has been opposed to a proposal by Taylor Shellfish to expand their mussel growing operations in south Puget Sound's Totten Inlet. Able to get Taylor Shellfish to reduce their original proposal by almost half the number of rafts, down to 58, APHETI was also able to force the permit to include monitoring of Totten Inlet's waters and sediments, to be managed by the Department of Natural Resources (Thurston County did not feel it had the expertise to design and implement a monitoring plan). Totten Inlet's waters are categorized as "extraordinary" by the Department of Ecology, leaving little room for man made impacts to its dissolved oxygen levels, one of the most critical parameters to measure. The mussel shell falloff onto the sediments below the rafts, especially during "harvest" when lines of mussels are pulled up will also be measured, of special concern as there are recovering subtidal geoduck tracts nearby. Finally, the non-native invasive tunicate, didemnum vexillum, which uses the surface area of the mussels and "predator netting" to grow on, which then becomes dislodged during harvest events, spreading throughout the water column of south Puget Sound, is of concern. It is assumed DNR will create and oversee a robust monitoring plan, and not allow the revenues received from leasing this area to Taylor Shellfish to diminish the oversight required. Too much is at stake.

Update from APHETI:

Greetings, APHETI members-  

Our last communication to you was almost one year ago. Since then APHETI has continued to address the concerns of Taylor's proposed expansion of mussel raft aquaculture in Totten Inlet. The attached APHETI newsletter will detail APHETI's efforts and next steps. As always, Thank you for your support. Please feel welcome to contact us with any questions you may have. 

APHETI Board of Directors

Association for the Protection of Hammersley, Eld, & Totten Inlets

-APHETI-

PO Box 11523, Olympia WA 98508-1523

(360) 866-8245                                                         www.apheti.com

 

March 25, 2015

 

Re:  Update / Pending expansion of Taylor mussel raft aquaculture in Totten Inlet

 

Greetings APHETI Members and Supporters - 

 

Our last letter reported that Taylor had appealed the environmental monitoring requirements required by the State Shoreline Hearings Board (SHB) and that the Judge sent the monitoring issue back to the SHB for Thurston Co. and Taylor to argue in support of or in opposition to the monitoring conditions – or Taylor and Thurston Co./APHETI could choose to negotiate a mutually agreed upon outcome to the monitoring issue.

 

All parties agreed to negotiate, Thurston Co./APHETI arguing for strong environmental monitoring and Taylor arguing for something much weaker.  The following outcome has only now been agreed to by all parties: 

 

Taylor's Thurston Co. permit, when issued, will include all environmental monitoring elements as required by Thurston Co. Hearing Examiner Tomas R. Bjorjen; all Thurston Co. Resource Stewardship Department recommended conditions; all mitigation measures from the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS); and a formal environmental monitoring plan approved by the Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) including all conservation measures as required by the DNR Aquatic Lands Habitat Conservation Plan as mandated by the US Dept of Ecology.

 

Next Steps: 

With your generous support over the last 19 years, APHETI has produced hundreds of hours of scientific study and litigation in opposition to Taylor's proposed expansion of mussel raft aquaculture in Totten Inlet.  All possible scientific and legal challenges to Taylor's proposal have now been exercised with the Court’s final decision in place requiring Thurston Co. to issue Taylor a permit to proceed if all permit requirements are met. 

 

APHETI 's efforts will now be directed (1) toward assuring all public rules for granting a mussel raft permit to Taylor are complied with and (2) providing input to the elements of a strong environmental monitoring plan as a part of that permit.  To start, Thurston Co. will not issue a permit until Taylor has a lease from the Washington State Dept of Natural Resources (DNR). 

 

DNR lease discussions will not begin until Taylor has a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers requiring independent study by the Corps, US Dept of Ecology, US Fish & Wildlife, and National Marine Fisheries Service.  A Corps permit will likely take considerable time, require public input and include its own monitoring requirements.  Presently, DNR has not received any indication that Taylor has yet applied for a Corps permit.

 

DNR has committed to keep APHETI informed of all aspects of DNR lease negotiations with Taylor including an invitation to review and provide input to the environmental monitoring plan for Taylor's operations.  Follow us at www.apheti.com for links to DNR  and Thurston Co. publications regarding the permitting process.

 

APHETI's financial resources are presently sufficient to support our near term custodial activities.  However, your sustaining contributions are always welcomed and put to good use.  If a major need may arise, we will let you know what it is and what may be needed to support that action.   Please send your e-mail address to apheti@gmail.com for future updates via e-mail or contact APHETI, PO Box 11523 Olympia WA 98508-1523, or telephone (360) 866-8245 for any questions.  

 

Best Regards! /            APHETI Board of Directors    

Mussel Farm Permit: APHETI and Taylor Shellfish in Court on Friday, March 28th, at 1:30PM

APHETI and Taylor Shellfish will be in Superior Court Friday, March 28 at 1:30PM. Listen to each explain their differing opinions on whether Taylor Shellfish's proposed 58 raft mussel farm at the mouth of Totten Inlet is or is not consistent with the state's Shoreline Management Act and Thurston County's Shoreline Master Program.

 

From APHETI:

 

Association for the Protection of Hammersley, Eld, & Totten Inlets

-APHETI-

PO BOX 11523, Olympia WA 98508-1523 

(360) 866 - 8245  

March 24, 2013

Reminder:  APHETI Superior Court Hearing Date / 1:30 PM, Friday, March 28, 2014

Greetings APHETI Members and Supporters -  

If you can possibly do so, please attend the Superior Court hearing of APHETI's and Thurton County's joint appeal the State Shoreline Hearing Board decision to overturn Thurston County's denial of Taylor's permit application for expanded mussel raft aquaculture operations in Totten Inlet.   

 

Your personal presence of support to uphold Thurston County's denial of Taylor's permit application is very important! Bring your family. Bring your friends. 

The hearing will begin promptly at 1:30 PM, this coming Friday, March 28, 2014.  The location is Courtroom 202, Building #2 of the Thurston County administrative complex, 2000 Lakeridge Drive SW, Olympia, WA 98512.  Please spread the word.

Plan to arrive by 1:00 PM to get parked and walk to Courts Building #2.  Upon entry, go through security and then check the Court Scheduleing board to confirm the hearing is still to be in  Courtroom 202.  This is on the second floor of Building #2.  An elevator is available.  

Feel welcome to call Superior Court at (360) 786-5560, Ext. -0- or APHETI at (360/866-8245) with any questions you may have.  

In advance, Thank You!

APHETI Board of Directors

Taylor Shellfish Mussel Farm Permit Appeal: Court Date Set - March 28, 1:30

"Taylor has spent almost 18 years funding* the development

of a voluminous body of scientific evidence..."

(* - see end note)

 

The appeal of the Shorelines Hearings Board (SHB) decision which reversed the Thurston County Hearing Examiner's denial of a shoreline permit will be heard in the Thurston County Superior Court, March 28 at 1:30. The Superior Court is located here:
2000 LAKERIDGE DRIVE SW, BLDG 2
OLYMPIA WA 98502
Tel:  360.786.5560

In court, APHETI (the Association for the Protection of Hammersly, Eld and Totten Inlet) and Thurston County will argue that Taylor Shellfish has failed to show its proposed 58 raft mussel farm is consistent with the Washington's Shoreline Management Act and Thurston County's Shoreline Master Program. Taylor Shellfish will argue they have spent a lot of money to hire contract scientists to show it is.

The outcome of the court decision will determine whether future expansion of high density shellfish farming in south Puget Sound will occur without consideration of the cumulative impacts which  individual projects, considered as a whole, are having on Puget Sound's ecosystem and habitat.

If you support APHETI's position that shellfish aquaculture in south Puget Sound has evolved to a point where it needs to be looked at in its entirety instead of "one permit at a time" you can contribute to APHETI (a non-profit 501c3) here:
http://www.apheti.com/contactus.htm

To the north, CISA (Case Inlet Shoreline Association) is also involved in forcing the cumulative impacts issue to be considered by Pierce County. There, Pierce County has appealed a SHB reversal of their approval for the first subtidal commercial "farm". There the SHB said a cumulative impacts analysis was needed. The shellfish industry does not agree and has appealed. Contact/donation information is found here: http://www.caseinlet.org/Join_Us.php

End Note: *There may be some question of just how much money Taylor Shellfish itself has spent.
Clicking on this link - (https://grantsonline.rdc.noaa.gov/flows/publicSearch/begin.do) - and entering
NA16RG1591 into the "grant award" box will show a $384,000 grant awarded to the Pacific Shellfish Institute to study impacts from mussel farms in Totten Inlet. Clicking on this link - (http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/permitting/devactivity/totten/itrc-process/3C%20PSI_CarryingCapacityStudyProposal_Jul01.pdf) - will take you to a letter posted on Thurston County's web site stating that Taylor Shellfish and Thurston County will be using the information to develop the EIS and want to meet to discuss how to develop this study. Apparently for their benefit and at taxpayer expense.

APHETI Year End Update on Taylor Shellfish Mussel Farm Permit Appeal

The following is an update from APHETI (The Association for the Protection of Hammersley, Eld and Totten Inlet) on the status of the Superior Court case appealing Taylor Shellfish's permit approval for a 58 raft mussel farm near the mouth of Totten Inlet.

Note: APHETI is a 501c3 non-profit corporation. All donations are tax deductible. Their efforts help to ensure the waters and tidelands of Puget Sound are protected through the Shoreline Management Act and local county programs as intended - for everyone.

---------------------------------

Contact information:
Association for the Protection of Hammersley, Eld, & Totten Inlets
-APHETI- (a 501c3 non-profit organization)
PO BOX 11523,
Olympia WA 98508-1523
(360) 866 - 0218 www.apheti.com 

 

December 17, 2013

 

UPDATE: Superior Court appeal status / State Shoreline Hearings Board (SHB) decision

Greetings APHETI Members and Supporters -

It has been some time since our last letter to you so we thought this update would be helpful. Here is what has been happening since late June 2013.

We last reported that on June 17, 2013 the SHB overturned Thurston County's denial of Taylor's permit application for expanded mussel raft aquaculture in Totten Inlet (APHETI website www.apheti.com).

APHETI attorney, David Mann, said this of the SHB decision -
“I continue to believe the SHB got it wrong on Benthic impacts, dissolved oxygen, Gallo mussels and cumulative impacts. The only way they (SHB) could get to their answer was to ignore entirely our legal arguments, our cross examination, and the multiple holes in the analysis.”

“Frankly I believe all of the issues the Examiner raised and we defended before the SHB are worthy of appeal. It will be an uphill fight, but it is by no means a slam-dunk against us.”

It was unclear at that time what Thurston County might do in response to the SHB decision. Regardless, the APHETI Board decided to immediately move forward with our own appeal of the SHB decision to Superior Court. APHETI attorney, David Mann, filed APHETI's timely appeal which effectively prohibits any further action by Taylor until the matter is resolved by the Court.

Then, after conversations with Thurston County staff by APHETI Board members, the Thurston Co. Commissioners agreed to join with APHETI and also filed a timely appeal with the Superior Court.

Since then, the wheels of the justice system have moved slowly. Presently, the Superior Court has scheduled the hearing of the APHETI / Thurston Co. appeal for March 28, 2014. We will let you know the outcome when the decision is rendered and what our next action plans will be.

We also wish to THANK YOU! for your outstanding response to our request for financial contributions to help pay APHETI's legal expenses in advancing this Superior Court appeal. Without your support this appeal would not be possible. We are still in the fight thanks again to all your generosity!!

Continuing contributions are most welcome and will be put to good use. If you would care to, please mail your response to APHETI, PO Box 11523, Olympia, WA 98508-1523. APHETI is an IRS registered non-profit charitable organization. Contributions may be tax deductible and all are acknowledged in writing. The identity of all donors is kept strictly confidential.

As always, please feel welcome to contact APHETI (360/866-0218) with any questions you may have. We again, Thank You! for your continued support.

APHETI Board of Directors

How to Help Ensure Puget Sound's Nearshore Environment is Protected

In Puget Sound there are currently two groups on different legal levels who intend to hold the shellfish industry to the same standards as upland property owners are. Case Inlet Shoreline Association (a member of the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat) and APHETI (the Association for the Protection of Hammersley, Eld and Totten Inlets) are both appealing various permit approvals. CISA is focused on geoduck farms and has appealed permits to the Shoreline Hearings Board. APHETI is focused on a 58 raft mussel farm at the mouth of Totten Inlet and is now at the Superior Court in partnership with Thurston County, appealing a reversal by the Shoreline Hearings Board of the County's denial of Taylor Shellfish's permit application. All are in south Puget Sound, south of the Tacoma Narrows.

Geoduck Farm

~40,000 PVC pipes/acre

Is this really benign?

South Puget Sound is perhaps the most intensely developed areas in all of Puget Sound. While in the early 1970's shellfish aquaculture was, perhaps, a relatively benign operation run by small families, like all industries it has grown and evolved. It is now controlled by a few large companies who are generating immense profits from geoduck farming. These profits are being poured into local governments to craft the updated Shoreline Master Plans such that "industrial" levels of aquaculture are considered a "preferred use." Lobbyists and public relations firms have been hired. It is an industry.

You can help ensure that the future of Puget Sound's shoreline will include the protection of the nearshore environment below the high tide line, into the intertidal and subtidal areas. This habitat supports species which have evolved over thousands of years to be able to take advantage of a shoreline area which is continually exposed and covered, twice each day. It is unlike anything anywhere else and is one of the primary areas which the Shoreline Management Act was intended to protect. It is an area being transformed forever by the shellfish industry and if allowed to continue will never be the same.

Donations to CISA or APHETI will have long term returns which our children, and theirs, will enjoy. Get involved and make a difference.

Shorelines Hearings Board Denies Taylor Shellfish Petition for Reconsideration

SHB tells Thurston County to issue a permit to Taylor Shellfish with a condition of a monitoring plan developed between Thurston County and Taylor Shellfish. In a petition for reconsideration Taylor Shellfish asked for the SHB to accept their contract scientist's monitoring plan. The SHB rejected that petition, but still requires the County to issue the permit. APHETI intends to appeal that decision and ask the Superior Court to deny the permit, as the original examiner and the county commissioners did.

You can help protect Puget Sound by donating to APHETI here: http://www.apheti.org/donation.htm

Taylor's Petition
The Shorelines Hearings Board (SHB) has denied Taylor Shellfish's petition for reconsideration of its decision on its mussel farm in which the creation of a monitoring plan was added as a condition. That plan was to have been developed with the county. In the reconsideration Taylor Shellfish asked the SHB to instead accept a plan developed by its contract scientist. The SHB rejected that idea, telling them it presented new evidence which could have been presented at the hearing and the county was the proper party for developing the monitoring plan, not the SHB.

Impacts Confirmed
Ironic in the petition is that information submitted by their contract scientist clearly acknowledges what the original examiner determined: that cumulative impacts are not adequately dealt with.

One area of concern is the alteration of the sediments below the rafts from the shells and debris which accumulate from the operation. In the petition, it was suggested that instead of "curtains" surrounding only the sides of the individual rafts a bottom net be added and kept in place during the entire grow out period (currently the bottom net is removed a few weeks after mussels are hung). It was felt so doing would prevent shells and debris from falling to the sediments below the rafts. Not mentioned was the debris which these nets themselves accumulate in the form of species which find a convenient surface to begin growing on and in turn fall from.

Note: The contract scientist went so far as to say he believes that below the rafts the currents are so turbulent that the shells, among other things, would be simply carried away or turned into what he calls "shell hash." Perhaps that may be true in the near shore energy of waves rolling onto the shore, but there was nothing to support there being this level of energy below the rafts. Based on this assertion alone Taylor felt simply cleaning the nets would suffice, neglecting to detail how it intended on doing even that.

A further suggestion in the "plan" was related to monitoring periods. Here the scientist believes it would suffice if "...most parameters would be monitored every other year for a total of three of the first five years..." To support this position he compares salmon net pens to mussel farms. While it is true there are nets which enclose each operation, the similarities end there, whether they be the type of species grown or the methods used. It is something  Dr. Corey Goodman would enjoy critiquing in his spare time.

Note: One of the parameters required to be measured is dissolved oxygen, something clearly shown in the original EIS to create an adverse impact especially during the late summer when DO levels in Totten Inlet drop with DO levels dropping below 5mg/L. The contract scientist suggest monitoring every other year "during the summer", believing his "considerable experience" with salmon net farms is all that needs to be said to justify this plan.

One other example of clear impacts is revealed in the contract scientists' comment on Beggiatoa mats which appeared below the existing farms and were a concern to the original examiner. In the case of these mats, he believes they are simply a process due to "...excessive loading of total organic ("TOC") on the sea bottom." Removing it would create turbidity and be a disposal problem. The fact that this excessive "TOC" is a direct result of the mussel debris is seemingly not important or is lost to him.

Spreading Impacts Around Does Not Diminish Them
To drive home the concerns of the hearing examiner who felt that information provided was not adequate to determine if cumulative impacts were dealt with is what to do if "unanticipated impacts" occur. The contract scientist suggests a "reconfiguration of the mussel raft positions", or in other words, to simply spread the impact out over a larger area than that already being impacted.

APHETI To Appeal SHB Decision
The SHB was correct in rejecting Taylor Shellfish's petition. APHETI intends to appeal the reversal of the SHB decision which requires the county to issue a permit, even with the added condition, to Superior Court.

You can help ensure that Puget Sound remains a healthy body of water for future generations by donating to APHETI, at this site:
http://www.apheti.org/donation.htm

Important Reminders for Public Comments and Why Involvement is Important

Get involved in the public process. Corporate shellfish lobbyists have been shaping public regulations for years (see below).

 

Comments Due August 2 - Taylor Shellfish Wastewater Discharge Permit (~150,000 gallons per day of wastewater from Taylor Shellfish's processing plant near Shelton onto the ground where ground water seeps into Little Skookum Inlet. Nitrates, nitrites, chloride, sodium are all contained in the discharged water. See July 16 post for details)
Comments are due by August 2, 2012
email to - carey.cholski@ecy.wa.gov , referencing Permit ST 6157
Click here for Fact Sheet
Click here for Draft Permit

Taylor Wastewater Discharge Area

Comments Due August 21 - Pierce County Shoreline Master Plan (Important update to the land use document which will control where and how much tideland development by corporate shellfish companies will be permitted.)
Email comments due by August 21, 2012
email comments to Toni Faribanks at tfairba@co.pierce.wa.us
Copy to Pat Mcarthy at pmccart@co.pierce.wa.us
Click here for SMP information: http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/pc/abtus/ourorg/pals/whatwedo/shoreline.htm

Burley Lagoon, Pierce County

Get involved. Shellfish Politics are real and the shellfish industry is involved far more than you know. Some examples from corporate and lobbyist's documents follow: 

Regulations: Review current laws -local, state, federal and be involved in updating processes with the goal of simplifying.

NOAA: PCSGA requests that Congress urge NOAA and Commerce to include a National Shellfish Initiative with the release of their aquaculture policies and to support funding for implementation of the initiative.

Department of Ecology Guidelines: Due to significant participation by PCSGA and individual members in the stakeholder process, the new regulations retain Ecology's policies of protecting and providing preferred treatment of shellfish aquaculture, and contain use regulations that are significantly less stringent than those Ecology originally proposed.

Puget Sound Partnership: As a business representative on the Ecosystem Coordination Board, Bill Dewey [Taylor Shellfish Government Relations] continues to be engaged with them regarding the shellfish related actions including raising awareness that shellfish are critical to a healthy economy...

Shoreline Master Programs: PCSGA members are currently engaged in several SMP updates including efforts in Mason, Skagit and Jefferson Counties [and Pierce County].
Taxes:  ...the two bills that were introduced this week to extend the B&O tax exemption for seafood processing, (HB 2611 and SB 6342), while still important to the shellfish industry's processing sector, will not mean a B&O tax increase for shellfish producers who sell shellfish at the wholesale level.
Influence: Develop and maintain relationship with all levels of regulators.

Taylor Shellfish Mussel Raft Permit Decision: Cumulative Impacts Not Adequately Considered

Thurston County's Hearing Examiner has issued a decision on Taylor Shellfish's proposed 58 raft mussel farm: cumulative impacts were not adequately considered. Taylor Shellfish has been given a choice on how to deal with this deficiency.

"First, it [Taylor Shellfish] may inform the Hearing Examiner that it wishes to challenge the determination that the present analysis of cumulative impacts is deficient and the requirement to perform an additional cumulative analysis. In that case, I will issue a supplemental decision denying the application on that basis, and the Applicant may appeal. Alternatively, the Applicant may inform the Examiner that it wishes to carry out the analysis of cumulative effects required by this decision. In that case, the Examiner and the parties will confer about the timing and nature of that analysis."

(click here for complete decision: http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/permitting/devactivity/totten/hearing/961372.decision.taylor.pdf)

As noted in this blog and by others for many years, one shellfish farm may appear to be benign. When considered as a whole, however, Puget Sound's long term health is at risk from the cumulative impacts from the growth of industrial shellfish farming. Cumulative impacts do matter and they are significant. Thanks to APHETI this reality is now being forced to be considered by agencies.
(Note: To be added to APHETI's email list, you may email them at: APHETI@gmail.com.)
Current examples of cumulative effects:

New Geoduck Nursery in Spencer Cove

NE Harstene Island, ~300' in Length

(click to enlarge)

(needed for "increased geoduck seed demand")

Corporate Shellfish Barge

3 ea. 200 hp Outboard Motors

(click to enlarge)

(growing production is resulting in growing demand

for increased transportation)

Area of Low Dissolved Oxygen

In Totten Inlet Near

Taylor Shellfish's Processing Plant

Which Discharges ~150,000 Gallons of

Waste Water Each Day

(increased production at Taylor plant will result

in more waste water being discharged)

Farms Continue to Loose PVC Tubes in 2012

After Email to County in 2010

(click to enlarge)

(The old "Brass Foundry" on Highway 101 near Shelton 

is now being used as a storage area for PVC pipes.)

Cumulative impacts from corporate shellfish farming's developments in Puget Sound's tidelands and waters are real and they are impacting Puget Sound. The Shoreline Management Act was created to prevent the piecemeal development of Puget Sound's shoreline. Its intent is beyond question. This decision will help ensure that intent is met and corporate profits will not become the overarching philosophy.

Taylor Shellfish Mussel Farm Permit Decision Postponed to July 19

The permit decision for the proposed 58 raft mussel farm operated by Taylor Shellfish has been pushed out to July 19. Maintaining Totten Inlet's water quality is of critical importance. Maintaining the quality of life enjoyed by Washington's citizens who experience Totten Inlet is of equal importance.

While the shellfish industry may be important to some, this does not trump the Shoreline Management Act's focus to prevent the fragmentation of Puget Sound's tidelands and waters by corporate interests' developments.

For those who wish to have emails from APHETI (Association for the Protection of Hammersley, Eld and Totten Inlet) on the status of this permit you may send an email to APHETI@gmail.com and ask to be added to their email list.