The California Coastal Commission decided unanimously Wednesday that five appeals brought to the commission over Nordic Aquafarms’ proposed aquaculture facility raised no substantial issues, at least within the confines of the appeals.“I think their hearts and their minds and their concerns are absolutely in the right places. These are the issues we really, really need to be dealing with,” said Commissioner Mike Wilson.He added he agreed with staff the concerns weren’t in the confines of the appeal. The appeals covered a range of topics, including the project’s greenhouse gas emissions, effects on marine resources from water intake and discharge, allowance of a fire road in dune mat habitat, public access impact and a lack of an evacuation plan during a tsunami.The staff recommendation was that none of the appeals raised a substantial issue with the project’s consistency with Humboldt County’s Local Coastal Plan or the public access policies of the Coastal Act. Staff noted marine impacts are to be addressed during other decisions like the already approved wastewater permit and soon-to-be-discussed intake permit.Staff noted the commission will be addressing the marine resources in reviews of the ocean discharge and seawater intake separately — it says the scope of these impacts are not within Humboldt County’s coastal development permit.Keep reading
