Florida DEP renews oil exploration permit in Big Cypress National Preserve

Florida has renewed a permit to allow a Texas company to continue a controversial search for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve.

Environmental groups had urged the Department of Environmental Protection to not allow Texas-based Burnett Oil Co. to resume the work, which has left behind muddy ruts and damaged trees.

Burnett started a seismic survey for oil earlier this year but had to stop when the rainy season began. Their permit expired July 15.

The new permit, which is dated Friday, expires Oct. 5, 2018, and is subject to a 21-day challenge period.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Center for Biological Diversity are evaluating their legal options, conservancy policy advocate Amber Crooks said Tuesday.

"We're all going to be tracking the project very closely," Crooks said.

A federal judge sided against the groups in a 2016 lawsuit they filed to stop the exploration work.

The National Park Service found that Burnett's work would cause minor and temporary impacts to habitat for endangered species like the Florida panther.

The DEP permit defers to the federal approval and includes requirements that any damage be fixed.

"As we have done in the past, we will be working closely with the National Park Service’s staff to ensure we follow their guidelines as we conduct surveying within the Big Cypress National Preserve," Burnett spokeswoman Alia Faraj-Johnson said.

Burnett's seismic survey uses trucks equipped with steel plates that vibrate against the ground to send out signals that indicate whether underground formations might hold oil or gas.

The DEP permit adds a requirement that Burnett use smaller and lighter trucks, a switch the company made in the survey's first phase after larger trucks were determined to be unworkable.

The permit also requires buffer zones around wading bird colonies and allows "deployment areas" in the preserve.

The location of staging areas was a point of contention for environmental groups during the first phase.