Oyster farmer battles federal government's order to shuck operation

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

A California family that has operated an oyster farm on the bucolic Northern California coast is fighting back after the federal government moved to kick it off of the National Park Service property where the shellfish have been legally harvested for nearly 80 years.

The Drakes Bay Oyster Company faces closure and its 30 employees will be out of work if the National Park Service reclaims some 1,100 acres of an estuary as part of a plan to create a larger marine wilderness preserve at Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County. Owner Kevin Lunny said federal officials told him on Thursday — one day before his company's 40-year lease was set to expire — that he had three months to clear out. On Tuesday, he announced he's suing.

"We're not going to walk away," Lunny told reporters during a conference call. "We're fighting for our community."

Lunny said the company currently has roughly 10 million immature oysters worth up to $5 million awaiting harvest.

Lunny has an ally in Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who had tried to get the lease extended for another decade. But even her clout failed to sway U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

“I am extremely disappointed that Secretary Salazar chose not to renew the operating permit for the Drakes Bay Oyster Company,” Feinstein said in a statement. “The National Park Service’s review process has been flawed from the beginning with false and misleading science, which was also used in the Environmental Impact Statement. The secretary’s decision effectively puts this historic California oyster farm out of business. As a result, the farm will be forced to cease operations and 30 Californians will lose their jobs.”

The National Park Service bought the land from Lunny's predecessor in 1972, but granted then-owner Johnson Oyster Company a 40-year lease to continue harvesting oysters. Salazar said in a department memo that it was made clear at the time of the lease's signing that it would not be renewed, and that the information was conveyed to Lunny in 2004 when he bought the business.

Salazar's move will effectively end the company’s operations within the national park estuary, which includes an onshore oyster processing plant and offshore oyster harvesting on more than 1,000 acres of coastal waters.

“I’ve taken this matter very seriously,” Salazar said in a statement. “We’ve undertaken a robust public process to review the matter from all sides, and I have personally visited the park to meet with the company and members of the community … I believe it is the right decision for Point Reyes National Seashore and for future generations who will enjoy this treasured landscape.”

Amber Abbasi, an attorney for Cause of Action, which is representing Lunney, said the federal government did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and violated the Data Quality Act when determining to deny the renewal. National Park Service employees also provided false and misleading information, she said.

"A permit could have been granted and it was not granted," Abbasi told reporters Tuesday. "And the process by which it was not granted was deficient in many, many respects.”

A motion seeking a preliminary injunction in the case will be filed later this week, she said.

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Kudos to them for not taking this lying down.