Belfast Planning Board Asked to Revoke Permits for Nordic Aquafarms

Environmental advocacy group Upstream Watch has filed a petition requesting the Belfast Codes Enforcement Officer and/or the Planning Board revoke or suspend the permits issued to Nordic Aquafarms for failure to demonstrate that CMP can supply enough electric power to run Nordic’s proposed facility.

The petition states that Nordic was required to make that demonstration to the Planning Board at the hearing as part of its application process. Planning Board Members asked Nordic repeatedly to show that CMP could provide enough power, Nordic never did. Instead of denying the permit for that failure, the Planning Board gave Nordic an entire year – to December 22, 2021 – to comply. Nordic still has not supplied the requested information.

“Nordic’s peak demand is still unknown, but they need a minimum of 28 MW of power. That is roughly enough power to serve Belfast, Northport, Lincolnville, Camden, Rockport and Rockland - exceeding existing CMP capacity,” states Upstream President Amy Grant. The petition shows that for CMP to supply the amount of power Nordic needs, CMP would have to rebuild “Section 80” of the power grid, a $63,000,000 expense that Nordic has not agreed to pay for. The rebuild has not been approved by the Public Utilities Commission.

Upstream asserts that Nordic did not comply with the power requirement in its application when it applied or during the unprecedented one-year grace period provided by the Planning Board.

Upstream’s petition also states that Nordic cannot meet that requirement, because sufficient power does not exist without PUC permitting, and the expensive and time-consuming reconstruction of Section 80, therefore Nordic’s permits should be revoked.

There has been no response from the Planning Board as of yet.