North Carolina has objected to a federal permit granting WesternGeco, LLC authorization to conduct seismic airgun surveys in federal waters off the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina. In making its decision, the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management reviewed input from subject matter experts, state agencies, and the public. North Carolina deemed WesternGeco’s proposal inconsistent with the relevant enforceable policies in the North Carolina Coastal Zone Management Program.
In June 2017, the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, the Washington Environmental Council, and the Suquamish Native American tribe filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington alleging that its ship cleaning activity violated the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Throughout July and August, the National Sea Grant Law Center (NSGLC) will be hosting a webinar series to highlight the work and findings of its collaborative project, entitled “Overcoming Impediments to Shellfish Aquaculture through Legal Research and Outreach.”
On June 21, North Carolina’s governor signed a bill into law that makes several critical changes to the state’s shellfish aquaculture leasing program. The bill—S.B. 648—was unanimously passed by the state’s Senate in early May, with the House doing the same on June 12. The final text of the bill was refined in a yearlong stakeholder process, and is drawn in part from a strategic plan for shellfish mariculture that was developed last year by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.
