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.

Year End Fundraising Letter

From Case Inlet Shoreline Association

and Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat

 

Contact information for donations

(CISA is a 501c3 non-profit organization):

Curt Puddicombe

Case Inlet Shoreline Association (CISA)

PO Box 228

Vaughn, WA 98394-0228

Phone: 206-730-0288

Dear Puget Sound Neighbor, 

Thanks to you we’ve made significant accomplishments in our efforts to protect Puget Sound from continued expansion of industrial aquaculture, especially geoduck aquaculture.  But more needs to be done, and we urgently need your help now to continue our work. 

Since 2006, we’ve been working together with you and other concerned citizens, our expert scientists and our legal team to combat the continued, largely unchecked growth of the shellfish aquaculture industry.  Now, this industry can no longer use public tidelands illegally.  New aquaculture regulations and permits are now required in every county except Mason County.  Shellfish aquaculture is no longer permitted in eelgrass beds.  And now, geoduck harvesting is not allowed when forage fish eggs are present. Due to our efforts, the Shorelines Hearings Board has made it clear that the shellfish industry is not allowed to harass or restrict citizens as they use public waters.  

But we need to continue our work.  Currently, we’re working with our legal team to address the cumulative effects of increasing numbers of aquaculture operations, both active and projected.  To do this, we’ve been appealing these permits at both county and state levels; but more needs to be done.  We’re working to require studies on the accumulation of effects before more aquaculture is allowed to expand further.

The available science tells us that shellfish aquaculture causes adverse impacts to nearshore habitats for fish and birds, including critical habitat for endangered salmon.  The question becomes: how much more of these adverse effects will be allowed?  Are these commercial operations in violation the Endangered Species Act, or the Clean Water Act?  Now more than ever we need to litigate at the Federal level citing these Federal protections. We also need to legally challenge County Shoreline Master Program (SMP) aquaculture regulations at the Growth Management Hearings Board showing that they are a reduction in aquatic protection and inconsistent with the original Shoreline Management Act. The issues of protections of forage fish, eelgrass and salmon habitat, massive amounts of plastic pollution, wildlife eradication devices and biodiversity must be addressed.

In summary, the Coalition’s and the Case Inlet Shoreline Association’s final actions in Federal Court and individual county Shoreline Master Program appeals will determine the fate of our aquatic life and the ability for citizens to be able to use our shorelines for recreation. Two Federal cases could cost up to $50,000 each, the Pollution Control Board case could cost an additional $40,000 and County SMP appeals could cost $20,000 each. In all, over $160,000 will be needed to win the necessary protections. 

I know this is a substantial amount of money, but I also know that we are the last line of defense.  South Puget Sound faces being turned into a monoculture shellfish production estuary. Citizens are virtually defenseless when facing unlimited corporate funds and political lobbying.  

We still have the chance to make a permanent difference for Puget Sound, but we need to finish what we’ve started.  It is the right thing to do and the laws are in our favor.  But we need to get to Federal Court and the Growth Management Hearings Board to be heard. Our partners in Canada have sent us the attached picture that clearly depicts why we need to move forward.

No donation is too large or too small.  Thank you for your generous support.  Donations can be sent to: The Case Inlet Shoreline Association, PO Box 228, Vaughn, WA  98394.  We are an all-volunteer 501(c)3 organization. 

Laura Hendricks

Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat

 

 

 

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.