Latest news with #NationalEstuarineResearchReserves
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House approves river drilling ban; Senate eyes softer version
The Florida House Wednesday unanimously approved a bipartisan proposal that effectively bans oil drilling for 52 miles along the banks of the Apalachicola River. Now the bill (HB 1143) goes to the Senate, where a less stringent companion bill is ready for that full chamber to consider. With the legislative session set to end by May 2, it's anybody's guess whether a compromise will make it to the governor's desk. The House proposal by Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, and Rep. Allison Tant, D-Tallahassee, prohibits the Department of Environmental Protection from approving an oil and gas drilling permit within 10 miles of the state's three National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRs) – which includes the Apalachicola, Tolomato Mantanzas near St. Augustine, and Rookery Bay south of Naples. The Apalachicola NERR has some of the highest density of fish, reptiles, and amphibians in North America and takes in nearly half of the 107-mile-long river that empties into Apalachicola Bay. Shoaf introduced the bill by noting the upcoming 15th anniversary of the BP Gulf oil spill (April 20) that shut down Apalachicola Bay and devastated the coastal economy. 'We're still carrying scars from that oil spill, just the threat of oil coming to our area completely crippled our economy. And now we face another threat that is starting to really scare the entire community,' Shoaf said. Last April, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permitted an exploratory oil well in the Apalachicola floodplain for Clearwater Land and Minerals. The decision is currently under legal challenge, but Shoaf and Tant are moving to ensure the project never gets past the exploratory stage. If oil were to be found then Clearwater would have to seek a permit to pump oil from the ground. 'That is a whole other process," Shoaf explained. "This would block the next permit they would have to obtain before they could commercially drill for oil.' Earlier Wednesday, a Senate committee cleared a companion measure (SB 1300) for it to be considered by the full chamber. The bill by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, lacks the House's outright ban but does include a requirement for DEP to conduct a 'balancing test' when considering drilling applications within one mile of rivers, lakes, and other water bodies. The test would weigh environmental and economic concerns against the potential loss expected from an oil spill or other accidents. When asked about the differences between the two bills, Simon said he will meet with Shoaf for a conversation 'to work things out.' And Shoaf said he is willing to compromise – as long as it 'achieves the goal to stop drilling.' James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@ and is on X as @CallTallahassee. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida House passes bill to shield Apalachicola Bay from drilling
CBS News
08-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Bill that bans offshore oil drilling near environmentally sensitive areas ready for Florida House vote
The state's House State Affairs Committee Tuesday has unanimously approved a proposal that seeks to protect Northwest Florida's Apalachicola River by requiring some environmentally sensitive areas to be shielded from oil and gas drilling. The bill, which is ready to go to the full House, would, in part, ban oil and gas drilling within 10 miles of the state's three National Estuarine Research Reserves — the Apalachicola reserve, the Guana Tolomato Matanzas reserve north of St. Augustine and the Rookery Bay reserve south of Naples. The bill also would direct the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to create a "balancing test" to determine whether to issue drilling permits near water bodies. The Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay are the focus of the bill, after the Department of Environmental Protection last year issued a draft permit for the Louisiana-based Clearwater Land & Minerals Fla. to drill an exploratory well in Calhoun County. A challenge to the draft permit is pending at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, as environmentalists argue the project threatens the Apalachicola River. Republican Rep. Jason Shoaf, who sponsored the bill, represents Franklin County, which includes Apalachicola Bay, and pointed to economic dangers from a potential oil spill. "It will have been 15 years since the BP oil spill devastated our seafood economy and tourism economy. We're still carrying those scars," Shoaf said. "If just the threat can do that, you can imagine why thousands of locals in my district are up in arms about the threat of it happening again." Eric Hamilton, a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, told the committee that the proposed 10-mile rule is "arbitrary" and would take away mineral rights without compensation for about 1 million acres of private property around the river. "So, essentially you'll be devaluing their property," Hamilton said. A Senate version of the bill includes the proposed balancing test but does not include the 10-mile rule. That bill is scheduled to go before the Senate Agriculture, Environment, and General Government Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Florida lawmakers eye oil drilling permits
Amid a legal battle over an oil and gas drilling effort near Northwest Florida's Apalachicola River, state House and Senate panels approved Tuesday proposals to shield environmentally sensitive areas from drilling. The House bill (HB 1143) would go further than the Senate bill, including calling for a drilling ban within 10 miles of the state's three National Estuarine Research Reserves. Both bills also would create a 'balancing test' that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection would have to consider in deciding whether to issue drilling permits near water bodies. One of the areas that would be off-limits would be within 10 miles of the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, around the river and Franklin County's Apalachicola Bay. House bill sponsor Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, compared concerns about ecological damage from drilling in the region to the effects of the massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the gulf coast. 'The oil (from the Deepwater Horizon spill) never got to us,' Shoaf, whose district includes Franklin County, said. 'But it killed our economy anyway, just the threat of it.' Lawmakers are considering the issue after the Department of Environmental Protection last year approved a draft permit for the Louisiana-based Clearwater Land & Minerals Fla. to drill an exploratory well in an unincorporated part of Calhoun County, near the Apalachicola River. The environmental group Apalachicola Riverkeeper challenged the draft permit, and the case is pending at the state Division of Administrative Hearings. The House Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee on Tuesday unanimously approved the House bill, which received support from several people in the seafood industry. Shoaf said after the meeting that the bill would not stop the draft permit that the department issued last year for exploratory drilling. But he said it would prevent additional permits that would be needed to commercially produce and sell oil from the site. The other two National Estuarine Research Reserves that would be affected by the House bill are the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve near St. Augustine and the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve near Naples. Eric Hamilton, a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, told the House panel that his organization is concerned that the 10-mile restriction around National Estuarine Research Reserves might go too far and about mineral rights. While relatively unusual for Florida, companies have long drilled for oil around the Santa Rosa County community of Jay and in parts of Southwest Florida. The planned project in Calhoun County is at a site that was previously permitted for drilling but was never drilled. The state and federal governments have taken steps to protect the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay. They are part of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which starts in northern Georgia, crosses into Alabama and ends in Apalachicola Bay on the Gulf Coast. Environmentalists contend that the planned drilling project threatens the river and would be in the river's floodplain. The House and Senate bills include identical proposals that would require the Department of Environmental Protection, in drilling-permit decisions about sites within one mile of shorelines or other bodies of water, to 'balance the measures in place to protect the natural resources with the potential harm to the natural resources.' 'This balancing test should assess the potential impact of an accident or a blowout on the natural resources of such bodies of water and shore areas, including ecological functions and any water quality impacts,' the bills say. The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday approved the Senate version (SB 1300). Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
