Chad Gillis, Fort Myers News-Press
Thu, December 23, 2021,
The state is encouraging Texas oil speculators to withdraw their plans until more information is provided on how seismic testing and oil drilling in the Big Cypress National Preserve will be remediated.
Burnett Oil has coveted lands in the preserves for years, filing applications with state and federal agencies to allow a 12,000-foot-deep exploration well.
The company conducted seismic testing over the past several years in the preserve, and critics say the company did not comply with mitigation plans for that part of the drilling process.
Betty Osceola leads a group of concerned citizens and Miccosukee and Seminole tribe members on a hike through Big Cypress National Preserve on Saturday, April 10, 2021. The group is unhappy about a proposed oil drilling site in the preserve.
Jaclyn Lopez, with the Center for Biologist Diversity, said she's concerned that Burnett will again violate the terms of the permit by failing to properly address environmental damages.
"We’re quite worried about that," Lopez wrote in an email to The News-Press. "It seems they aren’t able to get the seismic reclamation right after four years, which gives us little reason to believe they’ll get the oil drilling mitigation right."
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Lopez, along with several environmental groups, penned a letter earlier this month to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, expressing their concerns about whether the company will abide by regulations going forward.
Burnett Oil could not be reached for comment.
Others concerned about South Florida's dwindling environmental resources say they'd prefer to see the company give up on its plans in Big Cypress.
Houston Cypress is a member of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and is involved with several environmental groups.
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Cypress said he wants the company to stop operations in the Big Cypress, not that he's in favor of drilling elsewhere.
"Overall, I’m about leaving it in the ground, but my first instinct is to say the oil they would pull up anyway is poor quality," Cypress said. "They could get better elsewhere. I’m not saying drill elsewhere. It’s just my way to get rid of them. Overall, I’m against extraction."
He said the land in the Big Cypress is sacred to his people and that he wants the company to clean up previous damages and leave South Florida.
"We recently created a letter that was very critical of the Burnett oil exploration years ago," Cypress said. "They didn’t clean up their act good enough — ruts in the ground and other disturbances that weren’t mitigated or fixed."
DEP sent a letter to the company earlier this week, asking for more information before the permit gets denied.
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Burnett submitted changes to the initial permit application last month, and DEP permit reviewers said more information on remediation will be needed before the state can proceed with its review.
"The ongoing changes in project design and mitigation proposals presents a significant challenge to (DEP's) ability to review and assess the permitting criteria," wrote DEP attorney Megan Mills, who is over DEP's permitting program, in a Dec. 20 letter to Burnett. "If reasonable assurances that the permitting criteria have been adequately addressed to support the issuance of a permit are not provided in the next response, your application may be denied."
Burnett has until Feb. 22 to respond with more information, according to the DEP letter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Oil drilling in Big Cypress National Preserve: DEP wants info from Burnett
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