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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a decision by former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to allow the lease of a popular oyster farm operating in the Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California to expire.
In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Salazar had the authority not to renew Drakes Bay Oyster Co.'s lease.
The farm had continued operating even after its scheduled February closure date while the case was pending. Now, the preliminary injunction that allowed it to stay open has been removed, and the next steps are still unclear.
Owner Kevin Lunny can appeal to the entire court to review the three-judge panel's decision, but no decision had yet been made.
"We'll have to see how this shakes out," Lunny said when reached by phone.
Last November, Salazar said the waters in which Drakes' operates should be returned to wilderness status, as Congress designated in 1976.
After the area was turned into a national seashore in the 1960s, the farm's previous owner, the Johnson Oyster Co., made a deal with the Interior Department to operate until its lease expired in November 2012.
"When it purchased the farm, Drakes Bay was well aware that the reservation would expire in 2012, and received multiple confirmations of this limitation that the reservation would expire in 2012," the court wrote.
But Salazar had the discretion to renew the lease in 10-year increments but chose instead to allow it to expire.
The oyster farm sued, arguing that Salazar's decision violated federal law and asking for its lease to be renewed.
A district court denied Lunny's arguments, saying it did not have jurisdiction to overturn Salazar. The farm appealed, leading to the current ruling.
Lunny, whose family also owns and operates one of the 15 grandfathered-in beef and dairy ranches operating along the Point Reyes seashore, argued that Salazar's decision was based on flawed science regarding the impact of the oyster operation.
But the court ruled that any errors in the environmental review were harmless and didn't find any legal basis to reverse Salazar's decision.
The small oyster farm's plight has become increasingly divisive _ even splitting the state's two U.S. senators.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has been a vociferous advocate for the farm as an important small business in a rural area. Sen. Barbara Boxer, also a Democrat, supported Salazar's decision.
Environmentalists praised Tuesday's court's ruling.
"Today's decision is another affirmation of the principle that `a deal is a deal,'" Johanna Wald, senior counselor with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
"The preservation of Drakes Estero will be enjoyed by millions of Californians and lovers of wilderness and parks for generations to come."
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