An advisory board recommended state officials deny an embattled oil drilling permit in Golden Gate late Monday evening.
The Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Board, which is an arm of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), recommended reversing an oil drilling permit in Collier County approved several months ago.
Opponents of the permit have said the oil well is too close to homes and protected conservation lands. They also have said it could contaminate ground water, among other things.
Environmental groups also claimed the advisory board should have been asked for its input well before the DEP granted a permit to the Dan A. Hughes Company.
Jennifer Hecker with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida was among the many people who asked the board to recommend denying the permit.
“This permit is deficient in many ways and a few improvements are still not going to be enough to rectify the deficiencies,” she said.
After a lengthy debate and last minute changes, the advisory board listed various reasons for denying the permit. Among the reasons was truck traffic, safety plans and bond issues.
David Mica, who represents the petroleum industry on the board, voted against the recommendation. He said the area isn’t all that sensitive and the advisory board shouldn’t recommend anything until an ongoing legal challenge to the permit is settled.
“Reality is we are in an agricultural area that has highly been disturbed and touched by human hands in a big, big way overtime and makes a great prospect for a pad for exploration for American energy,” he said.
The board’s decision is non-binding, which means the DEP doesn’t have to follow the recommendation.
