An oil company battling the Florida Department of Environmental Protection over denial of a permit to drill along the Apalachicola River now seeks a third-party mediator to resolve the dispute.
DEP denied a permit to Clearwater Land & Minerals for a proposed wildcat rig in Calhoun County, about 60 miles west of the state capital, after it had earlier announced it would approve the company’s application. The company then filed a lawsuit July 15 to challenge DEP’s denial of a permit.
The proposal had provoked protests across north Florida, lost an administrative court challenge, gave birth to a state law effectively banning drilling along the river, and prompted a lawsuit before the First District Court of Appeal.
The next chapter of the dispute may land on the desk of an environmental permitting expert. Politico Florida first reported that Clearwater was seeking mediation.
DEP provided a copy of Clearwater’s request to enter into mediation but a spokesperson said the agency was limited in its ability to comment because the matter is currently under litigation. The Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act provides for a mediator with expertise in land use and economics to weigh in on whether a government’s decision “unfairly burdens” a property owner.
In its request for a mediator, Clearwater attorney Timothy Riley said the decision to deny was “unreasonable (or) unfairly burdens” his client because “it contravenes five prior official regulatory acts of the Department approving the identical permit” when submitted by the previous permit holder, Cholla Petroleum.
Cholla never utilized the permit and abandoned the project in 2019.
Drill site in environmentally sensitive area
The latest dispute began in 2024 when Clearwater said it intended to drill an exploratory well. The site is in the river’s floodplain about 50 miles north of the Apalachicola Bay, where a struggling shellfish industry is trying to recover from a 2013 collapse of its oyster and clam fisheries.
Clearwater wants to drill down 14,000 feet between the Apalachicola and Dead Lakes in search of oil. The well site is within the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, internationally recognized for a unique abundance of wildlife and managed for research and conservation by the state and federal government.
Opponents say an accident or spill could cause irreparable harm to an unique ecosystem.
Clearwater argues that “the evidence does not show a reasonable likelihood” its proposed stormwater management facilities could harm the Apalachicola River and floodplains.
If DEP agrees to mediation, the two sides will have until July 24 to find a mutually acceptable mediator with specific expertise in land use planning and environmental permitting.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Oil firm seeks mediator in Apalachicola River drilling dispute
Reporting by James Call, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
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