California oyster farm settles with U.S. government, agrees to close

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California oyster farm has settled its years-long lawsuit against the federal government and agreed to cease operations by the end of the year, the company said on Monday, ending a high-profile case that split the environmental community. Drakes Bay Oyster Company, based in the Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco, agreed to end its challenge of the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision not to renew its 40-year lease on public land. "At the end of the day, although we lost this battle, it was important for us to be a voice for justice for family farms," said Drakes Bay Oyster Company co-owners Joe, Kevin and Bob Lunny in a statement. The case drew national attention as it pitted environmentalists who wanted to create a marine wilderness and who supported the federal government against those who saw the oyster farm as striking the ideal balance between using and preserving nature. As part of the proposed settlement, which must still be approved by a federal judge, the government would pay to clean the site and remove oyster-farming equipment, and also provide relocation benefits to employees who live there, court records show. The U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, which was also named as a defendant, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The family-owned oyster company filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in December 2012, arguing that then Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision not to renew the lease was based on a faulty environmental impact statement. In September last year, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a 2-1 vote that the company did not have grounds to seek an injunction that would have prevented the lease from expiring. The company also appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided against hearing it. The Lunnys said in the statement they plan to open an oyster restaurant in the nearby city of Inverness. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Robert Birsel)