Nordic Aquafarms was going to be the cornerstone of a new, progressive land-based salmon farming industry in Maine, but now the company, plagued by legal challenges and other delays, may be nearing its end in the state.

The latest blow to the company, which is planning to build a 33,000-metric-ton recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farm in Belfast, Maine, came earlier this month when Maine's attorney general's office cemented the company's inability to access land necessary for outflow pipes it needs to discharge water into Maine's Penobscot Bay.