Five members of Florida's congressional delegation are calling for a halt to energy development in Big Cypress National Preserve/NPS

Oil exploration should not be allowed in Big Cypress National Preserve because of the risks it poses to the environment, wildlife, and potential wilderness, five congressional Democrats from Florida say in a letter asking Interior Department and National Park Service officials to halt energy exploration and development there.

Efforts by Burnett Oil Co. to extract oil from beneath the preserve's landscape also conflict with President Biden's commitment to halt “new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters" and to work to slow climate change, said the politicians.

They added that while the Park Service currently is conducting an environmental analysis on Burnett's permit requests, a more stringent environmental impact statement "would make evident the unacceptable impacts to our climate, wilderness, endangered species, and water resources and would make clear that DOI should not approve the Burnett application."

Burnett, a Texas company doing work for the Collier Resources Co., spent parts of 2017 and 2018 conducting seismic testing in Big Cypress in a search for oil. While the company hasn't publicly stated what that testing indicated, in late January it applied to both the state of Florida and the National Park Service at Big Cypress for the necessary permits to develop two well pads from which to snake drill bits horizontally beneath the preserve landscape and, hopefully, into economically rich oil reservoirs. 

Burnett's proposed well pads would be located along Interstate 75 between Fort Launderdale and Naples and a bit north of U.S. 41 where Collier, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties meet. The company has said it would reduce potential impacts by using directional drilling to avoid the need for additional well pads. However, the work could involve construction of roads of 1.5 miles or more in length across the preserve's marl prairie to reach the pad sites.

“(Interior) Secretary (Deb) Haaland and the Biden administration aim to take decisive action on climate change to protect our parks and communities. This bold vision must include keeping oil and gas development out of our national parks, including Big Cypress National Preserve," Dr. Melissa Abdo, the Sun Coast regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said Monday.

"For years, conservationists, outdoor enthusiasts, and tribal leaders have spoken out against oil and gas companies’ persistent interest in Big Cypress," she added. "The preserve is home to the endangered Florida panther, and serves as a massive source of fresh, clean water flowing to Everglades National Park. Big Cypress is still recovering from the destructive impacts of the last round of oil exploration, which scarred over 100 miles of the preserve’s landscape."

The politicians asking Interior and NPS to halt Burnett's work were U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Frederica S. Wilson, Charlie Crist, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Their letter (attached below) was sent Friday to Shannon Estenoz, Interior's deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, and Shawn Benge, the Park Service's acting director. A copy was sent to Secretary Haaland.

"To protect Big Cypress, the Everglades ecosystem, and the billions of dollars of taxpayer investments in local ecological restoration, we strongly encourage the National Park Service and Department of the Interior to conduct a full environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act for these proposals and deny any Operations Permits needed to advance any new oil drilling sites within Big Cypress," read a portion of the letter.

"Today’s oil extraction methods, including horizontal drilling and oil well stimulation techniques, e.g., fracking and acidizing, could have serious adverse impacts on Big Cypress and the overarching Everglades ecosystem," they added. "Because the federal government and the State of Florida have for decades invested significant public resources into the protection and restoration of this ecosystem, it is important for any potential impacts of the sort posed by oil development to be fully evaluated and disclosed to the public in an EIS."

The five also voiced concerns that drilling operations could disrupt surface water flows, impact wilderness-eligible areas in the preserve, lead to damaging spills and leaks, degrade wetland habitat, and impact federally listed flora and fauna, including the endangered Florida panther.

The National Park Service owns the surface of the more than 720,000-acre preserve, while the mineral rights are privately owned – energy exploration and possible development were allowed in the enabling legislation that in 1974 made Big Cypress the country’s first national preserve, and indeed there is ongoing oil production in some areas of the preserve.

Still, it's an incredible landscape. This is an ecosystem with rare woodpeckers that live in family groups, with youngsters helping to raise their siblings. A subspecies of panther (listed as an endangered species more than five decades ago) has tenaciously survived despite the steady urbanization of Florida. More than 30 species of orchids grow in Big Cypress, perhaps most notable among them the ghost orchid that snakes its roots around the trunk of its host tree, anchoring its beautiful flowers. And there is the Everglades dwarf siren, a curious, bushy-gilled salamander that can grow up to 10 inches long.

Wood storks, an endangered species, have habitat in Big Cypress, as do the red-cockaded woodpecker (endangered), the Everglade snail kite (endangered), Audubon’s Crested Caracara (threatened), the Eastern Indigo snake (threatened), and the American alligator (threatened). The preserve also provides important habitat to numerous other rare and federally endangered species of plants, birds, bats, and butterflies. The state of Florida, meanwhile, lists nearly 70 plant species within Big Cypress as endangered, and if you include threatened species, the state’s tally reaches 100 for the preserve.

"... the long-term resolution of the oil and gas threats facing Big Cypress National Preserve should be advanced through an acquisition process for the remnant subsurface rights in the preserve. Per the preserve’s enabling legislation, the National Park Service has the authority to acquire any remaining oil and gas rights in the Preserve, and we urge the Park Service to exercise their authority to do so," the representatives wrote. "The enabling legislation clearly states that the Secretary of the Interior must 'limit or control' certain uses within the preserve, including with respect to exploration or extraction of oil, in order to carry out the primary conservation purpose for which the preserve was established by Congress."

Past Traveler stories pertaining to this project include:

Mixing Oil And Water At Big Cypress National Preserve

Army Corps Finds Big Cypress National Preserve Oil Exploration Caused Adverse Impacts

Army Corps Reverses Position On Oil Company's Impacts On Big Cypress National Preserve

Groups Want Florida To Purchase Big Cypress National Preserve Mineral Rights

Burnett Oil Inching Towards Drilling At Big Cypress National Preserve

Oil Drilling At Big Cypress National Preserve Might Not Require EIS

Geologists Share Their Concerns With Drilling For Oil In Big Cypress

Review Of Oil Drilling Plans At Big Cypress Could Lead To EIS