Florida Senate OKs ban on oil exploration and drilling near the Apalachicola River

The Florida Senate has joined the House in passing a bill (HB 1143) banning oil exploration and drilling near the Apalachicola River in Northwest Florida.

North Florida lawmakers filed the bill after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection permitted an exploratory oil well near the Apalachicola River in Calhoun County last December.

Throughout the legislative session, the bill sponsored in the Senate by North Florida Republican Corey Simon (SB 1300) did not match the language of the House proposal filed by Republican Jason Shoaf and Democrat Allison Tant.

On Wednesday, however, the Senate took up and passed the House version with an amendment prohibiting drilling, exploration, or production of oil, gas, or other petroleum products in counties designated as rural areas of opportunity that are 10 miles near a National Estuarine Research Reserve — meaning Gulf, Liberty, Franklin, and Calhoun counties.

The original House bill would have extended these protections to Guana Tolomato Matanzas in Ponta Verde Beach and Rookery Bay in Naples. Those are not included in the bill passed on Wednesday in the Senate.

The proposal also calls for the DEP to apply a “balancing test” when a permit application is submitted in areas within one mile inland from the coast or other bodies of water. The test must include the community’s conditions, hydrological connections, uniqueness, location, fish and wildlife use, time lag, and the potential cost of restoration in case of an explosion, blowout, or spill.

“Over the last several years, the Apalachicola area has been closed to our oystermen,” Simon said on the floor of the Senate.

“And a few years back, when we had the Deepwater Horizon drilling incident, it closed down our Bay and it decimated our community. We can’t have that again. Our families are trying to struggle their way back currently, and this will go a long way in making sure that the Apalachicola can return back to its former self and all that it brings back to the Forgotten Coast.”

The final vote was 37-1, with only Broward County Democratic Sen. Rosalind Osgood opposing the measure.

Louisiana-based Clearwater Land & Minerals is the company intending to drill for oil in the Apalachicola River Basin. A challenge to the draft permit is pending at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, as reported by the News Service of Florida.