Update Wednesday 10:15 a.m.: The owner of the Drakes Bay Oyster Co. says he'll appeal his imminent eviction from Point Reyes National Seashore to the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday rejected Kevin Lunny's request for a rehearing of his case. Lunny has been seeking to overturn a 2012 decision by former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to end the oyster operation's lease at the seashore and allow the National Park Service to proceed with plans to convert the property to wilderness uses. But Lunny says he isn't finished yet.
As the Marin Independent Journal reports:
Lunny said in a statement late Tuesday he will take his fight to the Supreme Court.
"We believe the court's decision not to rehear our case is incorrect, and that the dissenting opinion from Judge Watford will prevail," Lunny said. "Because of that, we are requesting our case be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. We are grateful for our thousands of supporters, partners, customers and patrons that have supported our small, family-owned farm for four generations. We remain committed to succeeding in our fight to remain open and serve our community."
In a September ruling 9th Circuit Judge Paul J. Watford wrote in a dissenting opinion Lunny's request for an injunction should have been granted. That provided the oyster company's supporters hope the court might re-consider that 2-1 ruling."
Original post (Tuesday): The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has closed another legal door on the Drakes Bay Oyster Co.'s bid to reverse a federal decision that will force it to shut down.
The court today announced that a three-judge panel voted 2-1 against Drakes Bay's request for an en banc hearing of its case, which challenges former Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar's refusal to grant an extension of the oyster operation's lease at Point Reyes National Seashore. By the same vote, the same panel last September rejected an appeal from Drakes Bay owner Kevin Lunny for a preliminary injunction to head off the eviction.
At issue in the case is the conflict between Lunny's decade-old campaign to win an extension to the oyster company's lease and National Park Service plans to designate Drakes Estero, the operation's site, as wilderness. Lunny has long maintained that the park service not only could but should extend the 40-year "reservation of use and occupancy" first granted in 1972 when the government bought the property from the operation's previous owner. The National Park Service, operating under provisions of the 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act, informed Lunny in 2005 of its intention not to extend the lease beyond its expiration date in 2012.