Just after Nordic Aquafarms scored a victory in a court battle over zoning issues, the company is facing its own lawsuit related to the proposed route of in and outflow pipes.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. state of Maine's Waldo County Superior Court against the company by two residents, Jeffrey R. Mabee and Judith B. Grace, who allege that they are the true owners of an intertidal zone that Nordic plans to route pipelines through. The same issue was brought up in May during the company’s Maine Department of Environmental Protection permitting process, with the Maine DEP finding that Nordic demonstrated sufficient “right, title, and interest” to the intertidal zone.
The suit, according to the Pen Bay Pilot, alleges much of the same arguments as the objections to the permit: Early deeds that the plaintiffs claim indicate the intertidal land is not owned by the individuals the company has signed agreements with. Kim Ervin Tucker, who filed the earlier brief during the permitting applications, is representing the two plaintiffs in the case.
The lawsuit is the first the company has had to face directly, as the earlier lawsuit over zoning issues was filed against the city of Belfast – the city the project will be located in – and not Nordic.
As the company faces yet another potential hurdle in the Maine process, the company’s plans for a similar facility in Humboldt County, California have received extra support from local government.
According to the Times Standard, Nordic has requested financial incentives from the county for the clean-up of the company’s proposed site – a former pulp mill. The former mill is a brownfield site requiring substantial cleanup.
According to the Lost Coast Outpost, the county voted unanimously to direct staff to go after state and federal grants or other funding to help pay for improvements to the area.
The company has also asked the county to help offset the costs of water treatment for the facility, as there are turbidity concerns related to the current water source.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
