An environmental group files intent to sue a salmon farmer for pollution off Maine's coast

News

An environmental group files intent to sue a salmon farmer for pollution off Maine's coast

2024-11-17 01:32 Last Updated At：01:40

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An environmental organization has served a notice of intent to sue one of the world's largest aquaculture companies for violations of the Clean Water Act in Maine — allegations the fish farmer ardently denies.

Conservation Law Foundation contends Cooke Aquaculture's salmon farming sites off the Maine coast pollute the state's bays, where lobster fishing is a key industry. The farms consist of pens in the ocean where Atlantic salmon are grown for use as food.

The Boston-based law foundation stated in its Thursday notice that it was suing Cooke in a Maine federal court to bring the company into compliance. It states that the company discharges pollutants such as fish feces, dead fish and trash into Maine's coastal waters.

“These enormous salmon cages are like sewage pipes to the marine environment,” said Heather Govern, vice president for the foundation's clean air and water program. “Their solid waste smothers plants and ocean life while disease outbreaks and sea lice threaten nearby endangered wild salmon."

Cooke swiftly denied the allegations, and company representatives said the firm fully complies with the laws. The company, based in New Brunswick, Canada, issued a statement that said the farms are “routinely inspected by state regulators and subject to regular monitoring reports” to ensure compliance.

“Finfish aquaculture has coexisted with heritage fisheries, such as lobstering, in Maine waters for more than 40 years. Lobster landings are not negatively affected by Atlantic salmon farms,” the company said in a statement.

Cooke is a global giant in aquaculture and describes itself as the world's largest private family-owned seafood company. It states on its website that it operates in 14 countries.

Some environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have targeted Cooke over the years with concerns about the sustainability of its operations in Maine and elsewhere. Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, said Saturday that the Conservation Law Foundation has worked with salmon farmers to develop environmental standards, and the notice of intent to sue was a surprise.

"Given the fact that CLF and the other groups associated with the proposed suit have not expressed any of their concerns to the farmers and that all of them stand to financially benefit, one has to wonder why farmers would ever work cooperatively with these groups to address their concerns," Belle said.

Israeli troops reach deepest point in Lebanon since Oct. 1 invasion, Lebanese media say

2024-11-17 01:26 Last Updated At：01:30

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon since they invaded six weeks ago before pulling back Saturday after battles with Hezbollah militants, Lebanese state media reported.

The clashes and further Israeli bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, came as Lebanese and Hezbollah officials study a draft proposal presented by the U.S. earlier this week on ending the war.

Israeli troops briefly captured a strategic hill in the southern Lebanese village of Chamaa, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Israeli border, the state-run National News Agency reported. It said Israeli troops blew up the Shrine of Shimon the Prophet in Chamaa as well as several homes, but the claim could not be immediately verified.

Israel's military did not immediately respond to requests for comment but said in a statement that its troops “continue their limited, localized and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon.”

Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, as well as several other areas in southern Lebanon including the port city of Tyre. An airstrike on the northeastern village of Khraibeh killed a couple and their four children, the National News Agency said.

Shrapnel from one strike wounded a teenage girl in the head in a southern Beirut suburb and she was in an intensive care unit, a hospital official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about patients’ conditions.

Israel's military said it hit multiple sites used by Hezbollah.

Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to severely weaken the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel that the militants have said are in solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza. Israel said Hezbollah fired more than 60 projectiles into Israel on Saturday but gave no details.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire — 80% of them in the past eight weeks — according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Israel has said it wants to ensure that thousands of Israelis can return to their homes near the border with Lebanon.

Israel’s military said a soldier died in combat in southern Lebanon on Friday.

On Friday, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister apparently urged Iran to try and convince Hezbollah to agree to a cease-fire deal with Israel, which would require the group to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border. The proposal is based on U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

A copy of the draft proposal presented by the U.S. was handed over this week to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah, according to a Lebanese official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the secret talks, said Berri is expected to give Lebanon’s response on Monday.

Another Lebanese politician said Hezbollah officials had received the draft and would express their opinion to Berri. The politician also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks.

Berri told the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the draft does not include any item that allows Israel to act in Lebanon if the deal is violated.

“We will not accept any infringement of our sovereignty,” Berri was quoted as saying.

He added that one item in the draft that Lebanon does not accept is the proposal to form a committee to supervise the agreement that includes members from Western countries. A U.N. peacekeeping force already operates near the border in Lebanon.

Berri said talks are ongoing regarding that and other details, adding that “the atmosphere is positive but all relies on how things will end.”

There is also a push to end the war between Israel and Hamas, which began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said Saturday that 35 people had been killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, bringing the war's overall death toll to 43,799. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said more than half of those killed have been women and children.

The U.N. Security Council’s 10 elected members on Thursday circulated a draft resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire” in Gaza.

The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, holds the key to whether the council adopts the resolution. The four other permanent members — Russia, China, Britain and France — are expected to support it or abstain.

Associated Press writer David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war