Opinion ID: 1318039
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Shellfish Habitat Along the Proposed Pipeline Route

Text: In the challenged 2006 Denial, the CTDEP tracked the route of the proposed pipeline from its entry point into Long Island Sound at a recessed section of Connecticut shoreline near Branford across an expanse of relatively shallow waters through the Thimble Islands. See 2006 Denial at 8. The CTDEP identified seabed conditions in this area as particularly hospitable to shellfish cultivation. See id. at 12-13 (describing how seabed was product of glacier advances and retreats that had left [t]hick deposits of layered silt and clay on seabed); id. at 24, 71 (analogizing such seabed to prized topsoil that shellfishermen could stock with juvenile seed shellfish much as farmers plant fields with crop seed). It identified a variety of commercially valuable shellfish found in the area, including eastern oysters, hard and soft clams, blue mussels, and channel whelk. See id. at 23. The CTDEP noted that the Connecticut Department of Agriculture had approved for direct human consumption the shellfish procured from the consistently excellent nearshore waters in which the pipeline would be installed. Id. at 21-25; see also CTDEP, Map: CT Waters Less Than 50 ft. Classified as SA or SA/SB, with Dep't of Agric/Bureau of Aquaculture Approved Shellfishing Designation (Jan.2007). The CTDEP further noted that the sea floor beneath these nearshore waters had been divided by state and local authorities into plots or beds, which are actively leased to shellfishermen. See 2006 Denial at 26, 55, 59. In Islander East I, we faulted the CTDEP for failing, in its initial denial of certification, to point to even one specific lease that would be affected by the proposed pipeline. 482 F.3d at 101. The 2006 Denial remedied this defect by identifying four shellfish beds that lie directly above the proposed path for the tunnel to be created by horizontal drilling. See 2006 Denial at 59. Further, the CTDEP showed that dredging and plowing activities would affect five state shellfish bed leases and an unidentified number of leases within the jurisdiction of the town of Branford. See id. at 44-46 (identifying 347.54 acres of affected state leases and 240.38 acres of affected Branford shellfish beds). [11] From the totality of this evidence, the CTDEP could rationally conclude that the proposed pipeline construction activities would adversely affect existing and designated shellfish habitat and uses. In challenging this conclusion, Islander East submits that the CTDEP has mischaracterized the record to create a false impression that the area in question is critical shellfish habitat. Petitioner's Br. at 23-25. Islander East asserts that the area actually supports few or no living shellfish, such that construction of the pipeline cannot rationally be inconsistent with Connecticut's water quality standards. To support this argument, Islander East points to a study in which divers found no oysters or hard clams at sites along the pipeline route, see Peter E. Pellegrino, Bottom Characterization Surveys of Selected Subtidal and Nearshore Environments off Juniper Point (Branford, CT) at 8, 11 (Jan.2002), and to testimony from Dr. Roman Zajac that, while the pipeline corridor could support shellfish, no oysters or hard clam populations were actually found there, see Conn. Siting Council Hearing Tr. at 54-55, Apr. 12, 2002. Certainly, this evidence raises legitimate questions about the impact of the proposed pipeline on existing and designated shellfish use. Significantly, the CTDEP did not ignore this evidence. Cf. Islander East I, 482 F.3d at 98 (faulting agency for failing to address studies contradicting its conclusions). Rather, it appears to have accorded it little weight in light of the cyclical nature of commercial shellfishing, which could account for the reported failures to find shellfish at certain sites on discrete occasions. See 2006 Denial at 24-27. As the CTDEP explained, oysters and clams often spend the early part of their lives in hatcheries, only later being moved by fishermen to seabeds to mature. See id. at 24-25. Further, because clams burrow, shellfishermen must use dredges to harvest mature specimens, see id. at 25-26, and the CTDEP cited surveys noting extensive trawl marks likely attributable to shellfish harvesting just past milepost 12, id. at 26-27. These facts, together with the evidence of active shellfish leases to commercial fishermen, provided sufficient record support for the CTDEP to conclude that waters in the pipeline corridor are an existing and designated habitat for shellfish and that shellfishing is an existing and designated use of these waters. Thus, we cannot conclude that this finding was arbitrary and capricious. See Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951) (holding that reviewing court may not displace agency's choice between two fairly conflicting views of evidence).