Nordic Aquafarms asks Maine to suspend permits as it faces an onslaught of legal challenges

Nordic Aquafarms has requested the Maine Department of Environmental Protection pause permit deadlines for its planned salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A., as it continues to face several legal challenges. 

In a release on 7 April, the company announced it is asking the DEP to suspend its permits to let multiple court decisions on property issues raised by project opponents play out. The company, which announced the large aquaculture project in January 2018 and originally said it hoped to have production start in 2020, has faced a barrage of legal challenges to its development.

Nordic Aquafarms CEO Brenda Chandler said the proposal prevent the company's permits from expiring as the court challenges are resolved. 

“This pause will allow the courts to fully adjudicate the issues raised by project opponents without allowing the delay caused by the endless litigation to run the clock on the permits,” Chandler said in a release. “Nordic remains committed to providing a locally grown, sustainably produced source of healthy protein in this community.”

The company recently lost a court battle over land crucial to its plans as the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of project opponents – Jeffrey R. Mabee and Judith B. Grace – on ownership rights to key intertidal land. The ruling found the land Nordic was planning to use for its inflow and outflow pipes was not owned by the company, and was instead owned by Mabee and Grace.

That land dispute has been further complicated by the City of Belfast – which has voted in support of the project – proposing to use eminent domain to seize the property the company needs for its project. The use of eminent domain has been challenged in court.

The eminent domain case is just one of many court challenges that the company is facing. Currently, there are at least seven separate court actions related to the project, targeting either the company, the Maine DEP, or the City of Belfast.

Among these is a ...

Photo courtesy of Nordic Aquafarms