In Win for Florida Community, Judge Says No Permits for Apalachicola River Basin Oil Drilling

Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, drilling still impacts the lives of those who call the Gulf Coast home. Places like Apalachicola, Florida, unimpacted by the oil itself, were still deeply affected by lost tourism dollars, declines in fishing revenues and damage to the oyster industry.  Waterfront communities like this, with multi-generational roots in fishing and oystering that are dependent on eco-tourism, remember and understand the tremendous risk drilling poses to them.

So, when oil and gas companies started applying for permits to drill exploratory wells in the Apalachicola River Basin, the residents banded together and fought back.

The Kill the Drill Coalition, supported by the National Wildlife Federation, was begun by locals who run boats, harvest oysters, guide fishermen, rent kayaks, lead ecotours, and harvest tupelo honey. Their connection to the Apalachicola River and Bay runs deep and across multiple generations. They depend on clean water, healthy wetlands, vibrant seagrass beds, and cypress forests for their culture and livelihoods. For them, drilling for oil in one of the Gulf’s last truly wild places was not acceptable.

Local leaders, led by Apalachicola Riverkeeper, a conservation non-profit, began work to block the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from granting permits for exploratory oil wells. Soon, signs supporting the protection of oysters, bees, fish, and locals sprang up across the region.

Apalachicola Riverkeeper went to court to challenge the permits that the Florida DEP intended to grant, and hundreds of locals held a rally on the steps of the Florida DEP building in Tallahassee. Local legislators advanced bills in the Florida Legislature to ban drilling within certain distances of designated Outstanding Florida Waterways and National Estuarine Research Reserves. The efforts by locals to protect a place and the people who love it have continued to grow.

This week, Apalachicola Riverkeeper and local residents scored a hard-earned victory. Tallahassee Administrative Law Judge Lawrence P. Stevenson issued a ruling that recommended the Florida DEP deny the permits to drill exploratory wells for oil and gas in the Apalachicola River Basin.

Stevenson noted that the proposed drilling was within the 100-year floodplain of the river and that the applicants failed to supply an effective plan for stormwater containment for the drilling site. The Florida DEP is now reconsidering and facing public pressure to deny the original permits.

The Apalachicola River Basin is one of the most biodiverse places in America. A journey down the river is a journey back in time. The sense of place that flows from the deep brown water, through marshes and wetlands, and into the Gulf at Apalachicola Bay is magnificent.

The recent ruling exemplifies the power of community organizing and coordination, and a full and heartfelt thank you to NWF members and supporters who used NWF action alerts to let the State of Florida know that we stand with the Apalachicola community in calling for this place to be protected into the future.

You can show your support for anti-Apalachicola Bay drilling efforts here: