A bill many on the Forgotten Coast are waiting for has gone to the governor. It would ban drilling for oil within 10 miles of the Apalachicola River Basin.
Just this Monday, members of the coastal community held a “Kill the Drill” rally to encourage Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign House Bill 1143, and they’ve invited him to hold a bill signing ceremony in their town.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the measure after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection signaled plans more than a year ago to grant a permit to a Louisiana-based company, Clearwater Land and Mineral LLC, to drill in the Apalachicola’s fragile river basin.
The plan to drill set off protests from hundreds of business owners, seafood workers, environmentalists and other community members. The protests especially roiled the Forgotten Coast, which had been devastated by the BP oil spill in 2010.
On Monday, an administrative law judge rejected one of the permits Clearwater had requested, and DEP denied it. Opponents of the plan celebrated the victory, but they warn more requests are pending.
The bill on DeSantis’s desk would ban drilling, exploration, or production of petroleum products within 10 miles of a national estuarine research reserve—that includes the Apalachicola River Basin.
The governor has 15 days to act on the measure or let it become law without his signature.
