EPA failed to adequately consider how a newly issued permit for a Gulf Coast fish farm would harm the environment and endangered species, environmental groups contend in two petitions asking the agency to review its decision.
The organizations have asked EPA’s appeals board to remand the permit, continuing a yearslong battle over what would be the first open-ocean fish farm in the Gulf of Mexico.
The permit, which was supposed to take effect June 17, set wastewater discharge requirements for the Vellela Epsilon project, allowing owner Ocean Era to raise up to 55,000 pounds of red drum annually off the coast of Sarasota, Florida.
Ocean Era has been pushing for permit approval for the last seven years and must now delay further until the appeals board releases a decision.
