The Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed another lawsuit this week against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of an ongoing dispute over the issuance of permits for commercial shellfish aquaculture in the U.S. state of Washington.
In October 2019, a federal court ruled in favor of lawsuits filed by CFS and the Coalition to Protect Puget Sound (CPPSH) against the Corps, affirming that the issuance of Nationwide Permit 48 (NWP 48) – a kind of blanket permit for shellfish growers – did not properly evaluate the environmental impact of Washington’s aquaculture. An appellate court upheld that ruling earlier this year, which prompted the Corps’ Seattle District to begin issuing letters of permission to Washington shellfish growers.
According to the Corps’ website, a “letter of permission is a type of individual permit issued through a streamlined processing procedure compared to standard individual permits.” These streamlined letters of permission do not require public notice or comment, which already raised concerns of transparency for CFS. Now, CFS is claiming the Corps has blocked them from seeing the letters of permission.
“By failing to provide prompt access to these records as required under [Freedom of Information act requests], the Corps is barring Center for Food Safety, its members, and the public from obtaining key documents concerning the ongoing harms caused by aquaculture, including the impacts of commercial shellfish aquaculture on Washington’s native wildlife and nearshore ecosystems,” CFS Staff Attorney Victoria Yundt said.
Yundt argued that the information withheld by the Corps is pivotal to monitors like CFS.
"The Corps’ unlawful withholding of public records containing crucial information related to the approval of industrial shellfish aquaculture operations in Washington undermines FOIA’s basic purpose of government transparency,” Yundt said.
A court ruling earlier this year invalidated some 600 aquaculture permits, including permits from Taylor Shellfish and Pacific Seafood, as well as many small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Shellfish growers were concerned they would not get their new permits in time for planting, and said that the ruling had added uncertainty to an industry already reeling from the effects of the pandemic.
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