The case moving through the courts at the present time to challenge the lack of Hydraulic Code Permits for the destruction of shorelines by aquaculture got a surprise boost yesterday.
Findings that contradict the testimony of the Army Corp of Engineers and Taylor Shellfish show that in 2017 the Army Corps had to create a Cumulative Impact Analysis that showed conclusively that there would be significant impacts from adoption of a Nation Wide Aquaculture Permit. The 117 page draft concluded that their would be significant impacts if adopted. The Corps has categorically denied such impacts.
The Corps admits that the aquaculture is likely to “adversely affect designated critical habitat for several species listed under the ESA including Puget Sound Chinook salmon, Hood Canal summer chum salmon and Puget Sound Steelhead…Given the magnitude of the the impacts in acreage the importance of eelgrass to the marine ecosystem and the scale of the aquaculture impacts relative to other stressors, the impacts are considered significant.”
The letter goes on: The proposed action is inconsistent with State requirements under the SMA to protect forage fish spawning habitat.”
The debate has been that the Army Corps of Engineers nor the State have ever considered the cumulative impact of aquaculture permitting on the overall shoreline and ecosystem of Puget Sound, focusing only on individual parcels. Now we know that they did consider the impact, and found it lacking.
The next steps on this lawsuit should be very interesting, judges don’t usually go against findings of fact such as this, and the Governor’s Orca Recovery Task force is currently about to publish it’s findings for saving habitat for the Orca and it’s food sources.
The full text of the findings are here:
Filed under: Aquaculture, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Puget Sound | Tagged: Environmental Protection, Government Legislation, Puget Sound |
[…] reported on some months ago in this blog, a draft cumulative impact statement, which only surfaced due to a discovery in this case, […]
I have found the case. It is Thurston County Superior Court Case No. 18-2-01972-34. To gain access to it, one must go through the Court Clerk’s office and the “Odyssey Portal.” https://www.co.thurston.wa.us/clerk/
Thanks for finding this Marilyn! Sorry I didn’t get this posted until now. Have been a bit busy.
Thank you for providing the link to the Cumulative Effects document. Can you also provide a link to the Federal case docket (re hydraulic permit requirements)? Thank you.
Correction: Maybe this is a state case. In any event, I hope you can provide a link to the case, so that we can follow it.