Plaintif loses appeal.
A resident who threw a spanner in the works by appealing a wastewater discharge permit for Whole Ocean’s USD 250 million mega farm in Bucksport, Maine (USA), has lost her appeal, according to bangordailynews.
Ms Faubel wrote in her appeal that she owns 250 feet of shorefront in Belfast, and that she and her family swim in the Penobscot River area near the site and eat mussels, scallops, seaweeds and other products that come from those waters.
However the chairman of the Maine Board of Environmental Protection ruled that Belfast resident Holly Faubel has no standing to appeal the permit granted to Whole Oceans LLC in November to discharge water from the former Verso Paper mill site into the Penobscot River.
Whole Oceans had counter-argued that the resident lives too far away – “approximately 14 miles away from the project site in Bucksport, measuring in a straight line” – to appeal the permit.
Faubel “has not demonstrated that her property in Belfast, her [financial] rights, or her personal rights will be adversely and directly affected by the [farm], or alleged that she will suffer injury or harm from the licensing decision in any way that is distinct from harm that would be suffered by the general public,” Parker wrote in a letter dated Thursday.
Faubel has until Jan. 25 to appeal the decision to the full board, which handles appeals of permits issued by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Parker said told the publication.
Whole Oceans hope to start building this spring.
