Residents of Franklin County are celebrating a new Florida law banning oil drilling within 10 miles of a national estuarine research reserve, such as the Apalachicola River Basin.
A Saturday party in Apalachicola marked the moment. Many attendees lobbied hard for Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign a bill (HB 1143), which bans drilling, exploration or production of petroleum products in those designated areas.
The law followed the application by a Louisiana-based company, Clearwater Land and Mineral, for a permit to drill in the river basin last year.
Adrianne Johnson of the Florida Shellfish Aquaculture Association says it was a community effort to pass the law.
"Really coming together to say, 'We want to protect our bay. We want to protect the livelihoods who depend on it.' And so, being able to take stock of the moment, I think, was a really critical part of all of the energy and time that went in over this last year of trying to make this happen, of really, finally getting protections enshrined in law," she said.
Johnson says it was a hard-fought battle to keep the Gulf-front Panhandle region free of oil drilling.
"It was no easy feat. I felt like it was a blockbuster movie in the sense of twists and turns and not knowing for sure the outcome," she said. "And there was a lot that hung in the balance that people felt very passionate about making sure that we as a community could stand up for the bay and for our jobs – and make sure the powers that be heard."
Supporters of the law remember the impact of the 2010 BP oil spill, which emitted more than 130 million gallons of oil in the Gulf, and worry that allowing drilling so close to the bay could open the door for another disaster.
Copyright 2025 WFSU
