A judge in Belfast, Maine, where Nordic Aquafarms is planning to build one of the world's largest land-based salmon farms, has an issued an order to keep opponents of the project from filing "frivolous" lawsuits.
In response to an ongoing lawsuit over ownership of an intertidal area crucial to the project, the Maine judge recently upheld a statute largely used to protect journalists and consumers from such lawsuits known as the anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) statute, the Bangor Daily News reports.
Justice Robert Murray has not, however, made any decisions on the ownership of a contested piece of the intertidal zone that’s crucial for the $500 million (€452.3 million) Nordic Aquafarms project to proceed, according to the news site.
The judge has also not allowed Nordic to completely dismiss the ownership claims, and the Maine-based citizen action group called the Friends of Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area is just the latest in a series of small but vocal protesters in Maine who are trying to derail Nordic Aquafarms in the state.