PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 25, 2023
It’s been a rough year for Nordic Aquafarms, the Norwegian company that wants to build a $500 million industrial salmon farm in Belfast. On Feb. 16, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled that Nordic can’t cross intertidal land it needs access to for its saltwater intake and effluent discharge pipes. The ruling also affirmed the legitimacy and enforceability of a conservation easement that stands squarely in the way of Nordic’s pipes. And on March 21, the first full day of spring, a lawsuit was filed challenging Nordic’s right to build its vast fish tanks in what seems to be the only viable place for those buildings. That latest lawsuit brings to seven the total number of suits facing the company, and it’s still not clear how Nordic is going to get around the Feb. 16 decision by Maine’s highest court. It’s time for Nordic to throw in the towel. The Nordic project is simply the wrong project in the wrong place. ~ Lawrence Reichard, Belfast