Corps flip-flops on damage from hunt for oil in Big Cypress. ‘Suspicious,’ environmentalists say.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has abruptly changed its mind about the damage a Texas-based oil exploration company has done in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
The reversal came just a month after the agency found Burnett Oil Company’s seismic testing had caused “channelization” and done extensive damage to “high quality wet prairie and dwarf cypress” — work the agency said violated federal environmental law.
The short, four-paragraph April 7 letter written by Col. Andrew Kelly, the Corps’ commander who oversees Everglades restoration, provided no explanation for the flip-flop. But it essentially means that Burnett can continue to search for oil inside the preserve without the Corps’ oversight.
Kelly said the Corps had “engaged with the staff at Big Cypress and re-evaluated all of the current and available information” related to Burnett’s exploratory activities. The letter was first reported by National Parks Traveler on April 13 and also by the Herald’s news partner, WLRN.
In emailed comments to the Miami Herald, the Corps said its staff had observed earlier this year “some areas that appeared to be rutted in the past by heavy equipment,” but that currently it has “no clear evidence of any residual adverse effects from Burnett’s activities on the hydrology or biology of Big Cypress.” The company can continue to operate under the permit from the Park Service, said the statement.
Oil exploration in Big Cypress, which provides habitat for endangered species such as the Florida panther, has been going on since the 1940s. When the preserve was created in 1974, the National Park Service allowed the Collier family, which owned part of the land, to continue to drill for oil in areas north of Alligator Alley and east of what is now the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. A few years later, oil was discovered in an area southwest of the Miccosukee reservation, and new wells were drilled.
Environmentalists, who have opposed the industry’s sporadic plans to expand exploration and drilling in an important freshwater wetland, were surprised by the reversal.
“This 180-degree about-face is suspicious to say the least,” Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an emailed statement. “It’s baffling that the agency could completely change its mind about the documented, widespread damage in the preserve.”
In 2017, before Burnett started the first phase of seismic testing, the Corps stated that a Clean Water Act permit would not be required based on the proposed work by the oil company. But after visiting the preserve to investigate the damage caused by the seismic activities earlier this year, the Corps found significant impacts and determined that future activities would likely require Clean Water Act protections.
In an initial March 6 letter, the Corps’ chief compliance officer Robert Halbert wrote that staff had reviewed information documenting damage to wetlands surveyed by Burnett Oil and also visited the area in January.
“The Corps concludes that the oil and gas exploration activity that was conducted equates to mechanized land clearing, ditching and channelization,” the letter said, adding that the work represented “a cumulative adverse impact” that violated the U.S. Clean Water Act. It said future activity by Burnett would need to be approved by the Corps, a step the reversal removes.
Environmentalists said the Corps’ initial findings reflected the potential impacts of oil industry exploration and expansion.
“I can’t imagine how driving 33-ton ‘vibroseis’ and other vehicles off-road through wetlands would not require a federal Clean Water Act permit,” said Alison Kelly, a senior attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council. “The Everglades and its endangered species, such as the Florida panther, deserve the highest level of protections under the law.”
In January the Center for Biological Diversity and the council urged Governor Ron DeSantis to protect Big Cypress from new fossil fuel exploration and development. The governor has not yet responded.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 6:09 PM.
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