National Audubon Society v. Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District

Two wildlife conservation organizations filed a lawsuit alleging that the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District had not complied with CEQA in connection with the District’s approval of an expansion of shellfish aquaculture activities into 256 acres of undeveloped eelgrass habitat and other sensitive tidelands habitat. The organizations alleged that declines in eelgrass habitat due to climate change impacts such as increased temperatures and disease already had been reported along the California and Baja California coasts and that climate change was likely to exacerbate adverse impacts to eelgrass and mudflat habitats in the future due to sea level rise resulting in submersion of the habitats in waters too deep to allow sunlight and growth.