Beleaguered Norway-owned land-based salmon farming project Nordic Aquafarms is asking the state of Maine's Department of Environmental Protection to suspend permits the company was granted three years ago for its 33,000-metric-ton recirculating aquaculture system (RAS).
Drowning in litigation, the company said suspending the permits will allow the state courts to decide on "property issues raised by project opponents contesting the City of Belfast’s exercise of eminent domain."
"This pause will allow the courts to fully adjudicate the issues raised by project opponents without allowing the delay caused by the endless litigation to run the clock on the permits," said Nordic Aquafarms CEO Brenda Chandler in a statement.
"Nordic remains committed to providing a locally grown, sustainably produced source of healthy protein in this community.”
In March, 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, citing a Maine court ruling from earlier this year that said the outflow pipes belong to landowners Jeffrey Mabee and Judith Grace.
Maine's assistant attorney also pointed out in her recent motion that the city of Belfast cannot acquire the property through "exercise of its eminent domain powers."
It's an uphill battle the company has been fighting with local residents since its launch, involving intense and often arcane scrutiny over property and title rights dating back several decades.
At this point, Nordic Aquafarms does not appear to have any way to complete the project without major legal intervention that would extend the project for years, making its construction timeline and its overall viability unknown.
Nordic Aquafarms Inc., whose Maine facility has been priced as high as $500 million (€496 million) to build, was spun off from Norwegian parent group Nordic Aquafarms, together with a similar proposed project in Humboldt, California.
In March, Norway's Fredrikstad Seafoods, parent of Nordic Aquafarms, harvested its last salmon, in preparation for its shift to producing yellowtail kingfish.
Fredrikstad Seafoods was the first Norwegian company to produce market-sized salmon on land in recycling aquaculture system (RAS) facilities on a commercial scale. However, last year it decided to shift focus and farm kingfish instead, partly because it did not have enough scale to be competitive in the salmon market.
