A lawsuit by environmental NGOs to block Cooke Aquaculture's plans to farm trout in Washington State fell flat this month when a superior court judge, after hearing testimony on the case, ruled against allegations that state officials used a flawed baseline to move forward with the trout permits under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
The lawsuit requested that the state go back and perform a more thorough analysis that considers the environmental impacts the proposed project will have on water quality, endangered salmon and orcas and the Puget Sound ecosystem, according to its advocates.
