Measures to protect the Apalachicola river and bay are moving in both chambers. Lawmakers from Florida’s Big Bend delegation say the bills are a response to the outcry they heard when the state Department of Environmental Protection said it would issue a permit to drill for oil in the fragile basin.
Port St. Joe Republican Rep. Jason Shoaf and Tallahassee Democratic Rep. Allison Tant are the House sponsors of a bill that would ban drilling, exploration, or production of petroleum products within 10 miles of a national estuarine research reserve -- such as the Apalachicola River Basin.
Shoaf says he’s in the natural gas business.
“Owned and operated, been in the family for 50 years," he said. "And so oil and natural gas is something that is very personal to me. But I also felt that that put it on my plate and made it my responsibility to run this bill.”
A Louisiana-based company, Clearwater Land and Mineral LLC, applied for the permit to drill, and a year ago, DEP announced that it planned to grant it. That set off protests from business owners, seafood workers, environmentalists and schoolchildren. Shoaf took note.
“We have a company that has come in …I’m not blaming them," he said. "They believe there’s oil there, so they went after permits to be able to explore.”
But the protests over the permit roiled Shoaf’s district, which had been devastated by the BP oil spill in 2010.
“We had an oil spill. I’m sure all of you heard about it. Oil didn’t even get into the bay, but it shut it down," said Shoaf. "It shut down our economy. It shut down every form of business. People cancelled reservations for a year or two. No one wanted to come anywhere that could, potentially, have oil.”
Jeff Wren, the owner of Rattlesnake Cove Oyster Company in Apalachicola Bay, supports Shoaf and Tant’s bill. He also teaches and mentors high school students from Franklin County.
“I’m worried about the future of my business and possibly these students that I teach," Wren said. "If there were any issues upriver, public perception alone -- like Representative Shoaf said -- it would pretty much decimate the seafood industry and the Apalachicola region. And God forbid, another Hurricane Michael. So, drilling up there seems counterintuitive.”
Eric Hamilton, associate director of the American Petroleum Institute, said he appreciated the bill’s environmental concerns.
“I just want to express our support for the environmental side of the bill," he said. "We are talking about very environmentally sensitive areas, and that’s good.”
However, Hamilton said, he’s opposing the bill.
“We do have issues with the setback, the 10-mile setback," he said. "It seems rather far to us, and there are definitely concerns about mineral rights.”
Hamilton said he hoped to come to a compromise with Shoaf.
Meanwhile, Tallahassee Republican Sen. Corey Simon is the sponsor of a similar bill moving in the Senate. Sanford Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur recently presented the bill for Simon.
Brodeur said currently, DEP’s regulatory division has to consider certain factors when granting a permit to drill.
“None of them were what happens if there’s a blowout and what could that do to natural resources," said Brodeur. "So, this bill simply puts that factor in among the other factors regarding what DEP must consider when granting a permit to drill.”
As to the Clearwater drilling permit, the question is still before an administrative law judge.
