Victory! Nordic Aquafarms Has Permits Rescinded by Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands

Yesterday the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL) rescinded the submerged lands and dredging leases granted — but not issued — to Nordic Aquafarms, Inc. in September 2020.

The Bureau’s decision responds to the February 16, 2023 ruling from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court (a/k/a the Law Court) that Jeffrey Mabee and Judith Grace own the intertidal land Nordic’s three industrial pipelines must cross to support its proposed fish factory.

Since the Law Court determined that Mabee and Grace own the intertidal land, the conservation easement they created in 2019 — now held by FHLHCA — is valid and enforceable. The upshot?

Nordic cannot demonstrate that it has sufficient “title, right, or interest” (TRI) in the intertidal land adjacent to the State’s submerged land to meet BPL’s application requirements.

Nordic needs a submerged lands lease to receive — and maintain — an effluent discharge permit under the MEPDES program run by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP). Like BPL, the Department and the Board must review the impact of the Law Court’s February 2023 title claims decision on the permits and licenses BEP granted Nordic in 2020.

Will they come to the same conclusion?