The Florida Senate has strengthened its proposal to limit drilling in the Apalachicola River Basin. But Florida’s two chamber’s proposals still have a few differences.
The policy dispute follows loud opposition to a proposed oil drilling project in the Apalachicola Basin. Opponents worry the project could hurt the environment as well as the economy and a group of North Florida lawmakers is behind a pair of bills to try to add some guardrails to the plan.
The House passed a bill earlier this month that prohibits drilling, exploration, or production of oil, gas, or other petroleum products within 10 miles of a national estuarine research reserve, which includes areas near the Apalachicola Bay as well as two other locations in Florida.
It’s sponsor, Port St. Joe Republican Representative Jason Shoaf, said the bill is important due to how his district was hit hard by the 2010 BP Oil spill, the effects of which can still be felt today.
"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,” he said during one of the bill’s committee stops.
Tallahassee Republican Senator Corey Simon took up the House bill on his chamber’s floor but amended it to limit that 10-mile buffer for national reserves only within counties designated as rural areas of opportunity by the state. With that change, Apalachicola falls within that protection, but not the other two reserves, Guana Tolomato Matanzas in St. Johns County and Rookery Bay in Collier County.
Simon said his region needs protection after the BP oil spill devastated the area’s ecosystems.
“A few years back, when we had the deep water 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 Apalachicola can return back to its former self and all that brings back to the Forgotten Coast,” he said.
Simon’s change to the bill means it will have to go back to the House for approval.
