Apalachicola Riverkeeper asks for extension in drilling permit process
The Apalachicola Riverkeeper is asking for a 45-day extension to determine whether they'll challenge a potential oil and gas drilling permit for an area near the river.
Update on 5/27/24: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has given the Apalachicola Riverkeeper until June 6 to file a petition for an administrative hearing challenging the draft exploratory oil and gas drilling permit. That’s a 15-day extension from the original deadline.
A nonprofit group that’s dedicated to protecting the Apalachicola River is asking the state to delay issuing an exploratory oil and gas permit while the organization determines its next steps in challenging the plan.
“When you have exploratory oil drilling, you have all sorts of equipment that's stored on-site, you have drilling mud that is mixed with different types of chemicals,” said Georgia Ackerman, RiverTrek coordinator for the Apalachicola Riverkeeper, the organization that filed the extension request. “If that ends up in your wetlands, it can end up in your rivers and it can end up in your bay.”
In April, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection published a notice of intent to allow Clearwater Land & Minerals to drill 2.6 miles underground to look for oil and gas in an area near the river.
The well site is located in a floodplain in Calhoun County, a little over a mile from the Apalachicola River. Finding “commercially viable oil” in that area is “extraordinarily unlikely,” Ackerman explained. That’s because wells in the region have come up dry for decades, state oil and gas drilling data shows.
If drilling takes place close to the river, there’s a “big risk” of contamination, said Ackerman, who’s also the former riverkeeper. “It’s a risk that’s not worth taking.”
On Thursday, the organization filed a request for a 45-day extension “to determine whether to file a petition for administrative proceeding,” the request states. If the department refuses to grant an extension or ignores the request, then the filing would serve as a petition to challenge the draft permit.
In its notice of intent to issue a drilling permit, the department explains that a successful legal challenge could result in the denial of the permit application.
The proposed permit has drawn public opposition
More than a thousand residents have written to the department, expressing opposition to the drilling permit — many of them live near the river.
Xochitl Bervera, who lives in Apalachicola, is one of the residents who submitted a public comment objecting to the permit. Bervera and her partner own a small oyster farm called Water is Life Oysters in Rattlesnake Cove, near the Apalachicola Bay.
“As an oyster farmer, I'm really concerned for my livelihood and for our business,” she said. “But as a resident, you know, I'm really concerned about our whole ecosystem. We live in such a special place.”
The Apalachicola Bay, where the river flows into the Gulf of Mexico, “is one of the most productive estuarine systems in the northern hemisphere as a result of the overall good water quality,” the Florida DEP states on its website.
A fact sheet from the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve describes the area as “one of six biodiversity hotspots in the country,” supporting 109 plant species and 54 animal species “listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern.” The reserve’s local fishing industry generates $14 million - $16 million annually, supporting 85% of the population.
Caitlin McCauley, who’s lived in Apalachicola for about six years, also wrote in opposition to the potential drilling permit.
“We have such great biodiversity here, which is really impressive,” she said. “That’s something that really mesmerized me coming to this area, seeing all the beautiful lizards and tiny crabs. I’m still awestruck and in love with it.”
