Multiple organizations, businesses, elected leaders, and individuals are calling on agency staff: do not permit new industrial oil in Big Cypress.
Big Cypress National Preserve is a vital part of the Everglades, the ecosystem that is the focus of a two-decade restoration effort: the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), authorized by Congress in 2000, funded by billions of state-federal matching dollars, and known as the world’s largest ecosystem restoration project. Permitting oil development inside the Everglades ecosystem would run completely counter to the significant restoration progress made to date - and still ongoing.
Below you will find letters and resources that concerned organizations and elected leaders have sent to federal and state agencies, calling for Big Cypress National Preserve to be protected to the fullest extent afforded by law.
National Park advocates are calling on the EPA to use its Clean Water Act powers to protect Big Cypress National Preserve from damage caused by oil drilling.
Florida Dept. of Agriculture is calling upon DOI Secretary Haaland and NPS Director Sams to use NPS authority and their mandate to protect Big Cypress and reject Burnett Oil’s proposals
Members of Congress are urging the National Park Service to fully evaluate the proposed oil development, consider its climate impacts, and resolve the threat long-term by pursuing an acquisition process for the mineral rights below Big Cypress.
Organizations are calling upon the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection to require full mitigation of seismic damages before any new oil activities can be authorized.
Members of Congress are strengthening their call for President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland to deny any operations permits needed to advance oil drilling in the Everglades.
Organizations are calling upon the National Park Service to uphold the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and ensure that damages to Big Cypress are fully restored and mitigated for, according to best available scientific practices.
We are calling upon the Secretary of the Interior to pause this oil proposal until full climate analysis and acquisition options have been exhausted.
Over 30 organizations are demanding that the National Park Service require full restoration and compensatory mitigation of damages Burnett Oil company caused inside Big Cypress wilderness during its seismic surveys for oil.
Concerned about impacts to drinking water aquifers and water quality? We are urging the South Florida Water Management District to uphold their resolution to oppose oil drilling in the Everglades.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida articulated numerous comments expressing their concerns over the oil development proposal in a letter to the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection.
Indigenous leaders of the Love the Everglades Movement are connecting community members in opposing the oil development in Big Cypress. Read on to learn more and view images from recent efforts:
Tell the State of Florida’s Governor and Dept. of Environmental Protection to uphold Big Cypress as an Outstanding Florida Water and not authorize Section 404 permits for this oil proposal.
We are asking the EPA to weigh in on this issue and raise concerns to the State of Florida regarding impacts to federal waters, water quality, and environmental justice.
Members of Congress are calling upon the EPA to exercise oversight and enforcement responsibilities and object to issuance of a Clean Water Act permit that would facilitate oil development in Big Cypress National Preserve.
State of Florida’s elected Commissioner of Agriculture raises strong concerns about impacts to farming communities and water supplies in letter calling for oil permit applications to be denied and a halt on all oil drilling activities in the state
Big Cypress National Preserve’s natural & cultural resources are at risk of being impacted by new industrial oil development
This is an image of Dwarf Cypress Prairie, one of the habitat types that could be devastated by the proposed oil development within Eligible Wilderness areas of the Preserve. Over 200 species of native grass & grass-like species comprise the diverse and irreplaceable prairies of Big Cypress, including a federally-listed species protected under the Endangered Species Act: Digitaria pauciflora, Everglades crabgrass.
Federally listed endangered species: A Florida panther track found in Big Cypress National Preserve not far from where the proposed oil development is targeted for. View the About page to see maps showing panther telemetry data that demonstrate the overlap of endangered Florida panther habitat with the two sites proposed for industrial oil development within Big Cypress.
In 2016, Big Cypress National Preserve became the first National Park site east of Colorado to be designated an International Dark Sky Place. Industrial oil development is incompatible with preserving the scenery, tranquility, wilderness character, and starry night skies of the Preserve.
Found in Big Cypress: statuesque bald eagles
Found in Big Cypress: American alligators
Found in Big Cypress: Bartram’s rosegentian, a stunning prairie wildflower.
Globally imperiled species are found in Big Cypress. The Preserve provides critical habitat for exceedingly threatened ghost orchids. Ghost orchids are slow-growing with only a handful of likely pollinators, and threatened by hydrological modification, illegal poaching, wildfire, trail development, climate change, hurricanes, and other impacts to their habitat.
Found in Big Cypress: roseate spoonbill, a wading bird in the ibis family.
Endemic to South Florida: the rare Big Cypress Fox Squirrel can be spotted in cypress trees and other tree species within the Preserve.
Found in Big Cypress: water moccasin snakes, also called cottonmouths
Photo credit: Big Cypress Natl. Preserve, Lighthawk.org. This image, taken in late 2020, shows how the seismic survey lines cut through Big Cypress National preserve in 2017 and 2018 have not yet recovered. These scars across this vital Everglades landscape are still visible from the air, rutting and channelizing the Preserve’s fragile wetlands, impairing water flow across the River of Grass, damaging endangered species habitat, and impacting the experience of all those that come to visit this part of the Preserve seeking tranquility or experiences in wild nature. Adding insult to injury, this happened inside an Eligible Wilderness Area, which should be protected by law under America’s Wilderness Act and National Park Service Director’s Order #41 on Wilderness Stewardship. With your help we can avoid letting new industrial oil development occur in this region - there is still a window to save it.