A federal judge has faulted the Army Corps of Engineers’ authorization of fish farming structures in federal waters.
A judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Monday sided with environmental groups’ challenge to a nationwide fishing permit dating back to the Trump administration. The court found that the Army Corps permit did not adequately comply with the Rivers and Harbors Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
The agency “stopped short of building a logical bridge between the multiple acknowledged adverse impacts … and the Corps’ conclusion that the impacts of NWP 56 would be no more than minimal or would be insignificant,” Judge Kymberly Evanson wrote in her order.
The Army Corps’ Nationwide Permit 56, issued in January 2021, was a response to a Trump-era executive order calling for authorization of aquaculture activity for fish with fins in federal waters.
