Florida should refuse permission to drill near the Appalachicola River, the judge says

TALHASSEE — The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said it has not properly considered the sensitive nature of the area, an administrative law judge said Monday that the state should refuse permission to drill oil near the Apalachicola River.

Judge Lawrence P. Stevenson issued a 53-page recommendation order in a surveillance case perfect for the keeper of the Appalachicola River in Environmental County.

The Appalachicola River Keeper submitted an assignment to drill an exploratory well in the unincorporated portion of Calhoun County between Tallahassee and Panama City after the Environmental Protection Agency issued a Louisiana-based Clearwaterland & Minerals Florida permit.

Stevenson writes that the proposed location is within the 100-year flood plain of the Apalachicola River, within a mile of two ponds hydrologically connected to the river and surrounded by swamps. He said, “DEP and Clearwater looked very narrowly at the scope of the project for environmental review purposes and limited it to a location close to the site’s drilling pad.”

“The runoff will have devastating consequences as it is close to nearby streams, marshlands and ponds,” writes Stephenson.

The state and federal governments have long taken steps to protect the river and Apalachicola Bay, and have attracted attention, at least in part. They are part of the Appalachicola Chattahoochee-Flint River system, which starts in northern Georgia, crosses Alabama and ends in Appalachicola Bay in Franklin County.

At this year’s legislative meeting, Florida homes and Senate advanced proposals aimed at preventing oil drilling near rivers and bays. The Legislative Council Room has not reached an agreement on the final version of the bill (HB 1143).

Under the Administrative Act, Stephenson’s recommended order Monday must return to the Environmental Protection Agency for the final order.

The 2019 division approved permission from another company on the same site, but that company, Cholla Petroleum, was not drilled, writes Stevenson.

In a document filed in February of the incident, the department said it would point to safeguards such as Berms on the site and prevent the release of contaminants.

“From a broader perspective, the parcels described in the “relevant land,” i.e. the area of ​​well pads and applications, are located within the Apalachicola River Basin,” the department’s document states. “However, given the location and redundant systems to maintain potential discharges of contaminants in well pads, the land involved does not have any special properties that make them susceptible to contamination.”

But Stevenson had trouble with such arguments. For example, he cited rules regarding permitting in “sensitive areas.”

“The focus on site footprints can be understood in the sense that the site is where excavations occur and is the only area that Clearwater controls,” he writes. “However, the cited rules require that applicants “make every effort to minimize the relevant impact.” It will probably include impacts beyond the site itself. The rules do not pretend that the “relevant impact” of the proposed permission cannot be extended beyond the site, as they do not require the person responsible for dep. ”

Stevenson also wrote that Clearwater “did not establish the possibility of the presence of a quantity of oil that would guarantee exploration and extraction on a commercially profitable basis.”

“It is also noted that despite the obvious words of the statute directed to be “considered and guided by that standard,” it denied the obligation to carry out an independent assessment of the commercial outlook for the proposed permit during the permit review.

While relatively unusual for Florida, businesses have long been drilled for oil around Jay’s Santa Rosa County community and parts of southwest Florida.