Categorized | Business, Featured

Hawaii Oceanic Technology Inc. awarded permit for Kohala fish farm

(Photo courtesy of Hawaii Oceanic Technology Inc.)

MEDIA RELEASE

Hawaii Oceanic Technology, Inc. has been issued permit HI-0028140 in accordance with the provisions of the Clean Water Act, Hawaii Revised Statutes, Chapter 342D; and Hawaii Administrative Rules as administered by the state Department of Health.

In a letter dated March 30, 2012, the DOH stated it has “reviewed the (company’s) application for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, and that after consideration of the expressed views of all interested persons and agencies, pertinent federal and state statutes and rules regarding the discharge, the DOH hereby issues the NPDES permit effective April 30, 2012.”

This comprehensive process took the company more than a year of effort and required a thorough public review and response to comments from the public and several NGO’s.

Bill Spencer, president and CEO of Hawaii Oceanic Technology, Inc. said, “Once again we have been held to the highest possible standard imposed by yet another regulatory requirement and have been granted permission to proceed.”

The company has spent more than five years and $2 million complying with permitting requirements imposed by the State of Hawaii and the federal government.

The company prepared a full Environmental Impact Statement and Cultural Assessment to obtain a Conservation District Use Permit, required to get its 247-acre ocean lease, which was granted October 2010.

Additional federal permits included a Federal Consistency Review Permit, the EPA/NPDES permit and an Army Corp Section 10 permit that has been in process since September 2010. The Army Corp permit is the last permit required before the company can execute its business plan.

“The permitting process has been grueling and expensive, but the company is proud to have been held to such high standards,” Spencer said. “We are now more than five years ahead of any other company contemplating doing an open ocean fish farming business in Hawaii or the United States.”

However, Spencer said, “if the United States is serious about food security and reversing the $14 billion dollar trade deficit it maintains from the importation of 85 percent of seafood we consume, the regulatory requirements must be streamlined and the burden on entrepreneurs should be reduced significantly.”

State explanation of permit decision:

DOH Permit Approval

State response to public comments:

DOH Response to Public Comments

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