A few weeks ago, Governor Gregoire, along with representatives of the Feds, State and the Shellfish Industry met to unveil a new initiative with the goal of ‘streamlining permitting’ of the industry, and also to throw some small but valued dollars at other issues around the Sound, such as the Olympia Oysters and Abalone revitalization efforts.
I wrote at the time that this smelled like a beach barbeque of the opponents of the expansion of shellfish beds in the South Sound, because the only thing standing in the way of slowing the permitting process on shellfish bed expansion are concerned citizens, but I am not the most informed person out there on this topic. I hoped that people closer to the South Sound issues might weigh in.
Receiving a letter yesterday from my friend Jules in the South Sound, I asked him if we could share it with you. I think this is a very coherent thought on the issues facing the owners of property and the environment down in South. It’s a bit of a long thought, but this isn’t TV. As usual, the disclaimer, “the views of the following editorial do not reflect the views of the Olympic Peninsula Environmental News, nor it’s management.
There, with that out of the way, and the lawyers satisfied, enjoy. Oh, and by the way, feel free to comment or send me opposing points of view. – Alf
From the beach. By Jules.
Bill Taylor of Taylor Shellfish recently wrote a number of columns promoting December’s Shellfish Initiative by the Governor. This initiative, was announced by the State and Federal Government as a means to address what Taylor Shellfish and the Governor have described as a “quagmire” of permitting regulations preventing expansion of their industry.
What Mr. Taylor fails to point out is that for six years the shellfish industry was directly involved in the public process that created these permitting requirements. Industry lobbying along with public, tribal and agency input helped create a federal, state and local permitting system that regulates their developments within the tidelands and waters of Puget Sound.
Now that this regulatory framework has begun to take hold, the shellfish industry has apparently decided it does not like what it helped to create and through closed meetings with a federal agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Governor Gregoire, it is attempting to minimize the process in order to expand operations without public input.
Ironic in this effort is the shellfish industry’s willingness to use regulations and create Shellfish Districts in Oakland Bay, along Henderson Inlet’s shoreline, perhaps Samish Bay and the Nisqually Reach–all for the industry’s direct benefit, helping open tidelands for production. In Oakland Bay alone, immense resources have been expended since the Shellfish District’s 2007 creation to correct problems that can be traced back to “streamlined” permitting, no permitting or a lack of resources to enforce the regulations that are in place. As a result, high levels of Dioxins and elevated levels of fecal coliform exist in Oakland Bay. The entire Oakland Bay watershed and every business and citizen are impacted, as are state and federal taxpayers whose tax dollars are being diverted to support this effort. Yet when the shellfish industry is asked to apply for permits for their developments it is a problem.
Much of the lag time that Mr. Taylor cites is, in fact, due to the shellfish industry’s inability to follow the permitting process. In 2007, after the industry spent two years of lobbying the Army Corps to approve existing shellfish farms through the Nationwide Permit program, the Army Corps received hundreds of permit applications that greatly overstated acreage and species cultivated on existing farms. Months later, after realizing the significance of the problem, the Army Corps and the Department of Ecology (DOE) asked the industry to resubmit the applications, this time with accurate information, a process that had to be completed before any consideration could be given to new operations. This problem was created by the shellfish industry, stretching the process of determining what farms actually qualified well into 2010.
At the same time, in April 2007, Governor Gregoire signed into law House Bill 2220, which was focused on structures and impacts from geoduck farming in Puget Sound. This bill was also the direct outcome of industry lobbying and public input, helping to create a regulatory framework to guide the tideland development this activity involves. DOE was tasked with crafting guidelines to be used by counties in development of their Shoreline Management Programs. The University of Washington’s Sea Grant was tasked with initiating long-term studies on what impacts geoduck farming may have, because no studies existed at that time. Through open and transparent meetings the public, tribes and industry were all involved in the creation of these guidelines. This has helped to ensure the industry’s tideland developments taking place in Puget Sound’s tidelands are for the benefit of everyone, as mandated by the Shoreline Management Act of 1971, and not just for the profit of a few.
Taylor Shellfish and others in the industry have caused additional permitting delays through appeals and lawsuits after being told permits would be required for their tideland developments. In 2009, Thurston County told Taylor Shellfish and Arcadia Point Seafood that shoreline permits would be required for new geoduck farms. Rather than submitting permits, they chose instead to argue that permits should not be required. When the hearing examiner agreed with the county, the companies appealed the decision to the county commissioners, where they were subsequently told the same thing. The companies then sued in Superior Court and lost, being told the use of PVC pipes, netting, and rebar is in fact a tideland structure and that these developments require a shoreline development permit.
The judge’s November 2011 decision went further. It stated an Attorney General Opinion in 2007, which is often cited by industry as the reason no permits at all were needed, and which was incorrectly made part of DOE’s guidelines, is legally flawed and should not be used. Had the companies simply applied for a permit, they may have found themselves today with approved permits. Instead they have no permit and DOE’s guidelines are now in question. This is a problem they created.
Mr. Taylor’s statement that permitting of new farms has not occurred for over five years is misleading. In Mason County, Seattle Shellfish proposed a large geoduck nursery operation in Spencer Cove. While appealed by Case Inlet Shoreline Association an agreement was reached and permits were issued for placement of geoduck nursery rafts nearly the length of a football field. Taylor Shellfish applied for and was granted permits for a new, albeit smaller, geoduck nursery in Totten Inlet. These operations involved an open and transparent permitting system which included input from the public, tribes and agencies.
There is no question that there are important components of the Shellfish Initiative. These include restoration of native Olympia oysters, both over-harvested and killed off due to pollution; financial assistance to shoreline owners and dairy/cattle farmers to help bring fecal coliform levels down; and improving access to the few public beaches which remain for shellfish digging and enjoyment by the public. But these are minor when compared to the long-term objective the shellfish industry has of minimizing permit requirements and consideration of alternative uses for Puget Sound’s tidelands and waters.
Puget Sound is a resource of national importance that extends far beyond its ability to grow shellfish commercially. Regulations and permitting through the Shoreline Management Act and the Clean Water Act have created a well-structured regulatory framework controlling development along its shores, on its tidelands and in its waters. They have prevented profits alone from driving decisions. Closed meetings guided by NOAA, the Governor and the shellfish industry should not be allowed to undo this regulatory framework.
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