Upstream Watch settled with Nordic Aquafarms on Thursday over claims the Norway-based aquaculture company made against the opposition group while trying to build a $500 million land-based salmon farm in Belfast.
Under the agreement, according to Upstream Watch, Nordic Aquafarms issued a $125,000 promissory note to the group with three parcels of the company’s land in Belfast as collateral. Nordic must pay the note within two years or upon sale of any of the properties.
In exchange, Upstream Watch drops a counterclaim against Nordic after the company said the group tortiously interfered with its project by saying it had no right to use a strip of intertidal land for a pipeline between its facility and Penobscot Bay.
Nordic’s lack of title or right to the land was affirmed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
In separate litigation, the owners of the once-disputed intertidal land, Judith Grace and Jeffery Mabee, along with the Friends of Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area, a group that holds the land under a conservation easement, are seeking $2.5 million in damages from the aquaculture company.
Nordic Aquafarms announced its plan to build the massive indoor salmon farm in 2018. Despite having the support of city officials and the administration of Gov. Janet Mills, the company faced strong local opposition and ultimately abandoned its plan earlier this month.
Jill Howell, executive director of Upstream Watch, welcomed the end of the seven year fight.
“Nordic’s facility would have resulted in the destruction of the Little River’s carbon sequestering forests and wetlands, the discharge of more than seven millions of gallons of nutrient-laden wastewater into Penobscot Bay daily, and required enormous amounts of energy and freshwater use,” she said.
