Mussel farm impact small, report says

A Taylor Shellfish Co. plan to build a floating mussel farm in north Totten Inlet would not have a significant environmental impact, according to a review of the project released by Thurston County this week.

The project was proposed 15 years ago, but it ran into stiff opposition from shoreline residents who claim commercial shellfish growing operations are running roughshod over the South Sound inlet.

After the company spent more than $1 million on studies and legal costs since 1996, the project remains viable, said Diane Cooper, director of regulatory affairs for Taylor Shellfish.

“We have not kept up with the demand for mussels,” she said. The company has two other mussel farms in the inlet.

At full build-out, the new 11.25-acre farm, including 58 growing rafts covering 1.36 acres of tidelands, could produce nearly 878,000 pounds of mussels in a 16-month growing season.

The dozen studies that went into the environmental assessment suggested the project would not significantly harm water quality, the marine food chain, water circulation or native mussels. The mussel species grown on the rafts would be nonnative.

The impact statement downplays the effects of mussel growing on forage fish important to salmon and dismisses concerns that mussels that escape the farms are breeding with native mussels, said Preston Troy. He is a Totten Inlet resident active in the residents group that has been fighting the project for years – the Association for the Protection of Hammersley, Eld and Totten Inlets.

“I think there are gaps in the studies,” said Troy, a retired executive with The Boeing Co. “Some of this stuff has not been peer-reviewed.”

Cooper said the studies are exhaustive and suggest the mussels could remove 17 percent to 40 percent of the nitrogen introduced to the inlet by humans.

Nitrogen is one of the major water-quality problems in South Sound, over-fertilizing the marine waters and triggering algal blooms that can rob the water of oxygen.

“We believe it’s a good nutrient-removal project that’s good for the environment,” Cooper said.

Troy said Totten Inlet is saturated with shellfish-growing operations, including geoduck farms that didn’t exist when the mussel farm was first proposed.

“We’ve had an industrial invasion of Totten Inlet,” Troy said.

Residents have until July 12 to comment on the draft environmental impact statement. After receiving public comments, the county will finalize the environmental document and schedule a public hearing before the Thurston County hearing examiner to consider the company’s request for a shoreline substantial development permit for the project.

Along with the shoreline permit, Taylor Shellfish would need an aquatic lands lease from the state Department of Natural Resources.

John Dodge: 360-754-5444 jdodge@theolympian.com