Interior Secretary Salazar to meet on oyster farm controversy in Marin County

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will meet Wednesday in Marin County with stakeholders in the controversy over the federal permit for Drakes Bay Oyster Company's operation in the protected waters of Point Reyes National Seashore. Salazar is scheduled to meet with the family-owned oyster company officials, including owner Kevin Lunny, at the farm on the edge of Drakes Estero, a 2,500-acre estuary designated by Congress as potential wilderness. Later, he will meet at Point Reyes Seashore headquarters with wilderness advocates who want Lunny's permit terminated when it expires on Nov. 30. The Lunny family maintains that harvesting $1.5 million worth of oysters a year from the near-pristine estero is a perfect example of sustainable food production in an otherwise untrammeled waterway. Sen. Dianne Feinstein authored legislation giving Salazar sole discretion to either terminate the permit or renew it for up to 10 years...more