Lawyers Challenging Army Corps’ Shellfish Permits Receive $710K

Attorneys who represented an environmental group in their suit against the Army Corps of Engineers over a shellfish dispute will receive $710,144 in attorneys’ fees, a federal judge in Washington state said, finding that the Corps couldn’t provide substantial justification for reissuing an aquaculture permit.

The Coalition to Protect Puget Sound Habitat claimed that the Corps violated multiple laws when it reissued a permit for shellfish farming in Washington that would have significant adverse impacts on the environment. In 2019, the court issued an order finding both the 2012 and 2017 versions of Nationwide Permit 48, which authorized commercial aquaculture ...