NPS: No harm in seismic testing

The federal government missed its chance to buy oil rights in one of the nation's largest preserve, and now it may give Texas speculators a shot at finding oil and gas reserves beneath South Florida's fragile surface.

An environmental assessment released recently by the National Park Service says Burnett Oil, based out of Fort Worth, will not significantly damage the landscape or wildlife when conducting seismic tests on 110,000 acres in the Big Cypress National Preserve.

"This is not a proposal for any type of development of resources whatsoever," said Bob DeGross, with Big Cypress National Preserve. "If there is a desire to do anything outside of this current application before us, any entity would have to submit plans of operation and it would go through the same process."

A public meeting will be held Tuesday in Collier, and NPS is taking written comments through Dec. 20. Once those comments are reviewed, NPS will issue a finding of no significant impact on natural resources, or the project may have to go through more stringent federal review.

If a finding of no impact is issued, Burnett is cleared to go ahead with the testing.

"(Tuesday's meeting) is going to be a presentation about the project and then we're going to break down into workshop session," DeGross said. "So if people have specific questions people will be able to talk to staff."

DeGross said Burnett, if the process is approved, will use existing swamp buggy roads and other impacted areas, when possible, to access the targeted lands. NPS staff will be monitoring the movement of the trucks as well as any impacts to wildlife or plants and trees.

"(We have) to ensure the water levels are such that the impact is minimized to the greatest extent possible," he said. "If it's a case where the water levels are too high and the soils are too saturated, the vehicle would not be able to travel through at that time."

The tests are expected to show whether or not there are extensive oil and gas deposits under the 730,000 acre preserve,which is located mostly in rural Collier County.

Some aren't so sure oil exploration is for South Florida.

"The idea that you could have these huge staging areas and drive through 67,000 pound trucks with massive equipment and have these massive footprints in the wetlands, it’s hard to understand how (the NPS) conclusion would be reached," said Jaclyn Lopez, an attorney for the Center for Biological Research. "We have concerns about seismic testing. It’s the first domino in a chain of changes."

Jim Beever, with the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council in Fort Myers, said layers that separate various aquifers beneath the surface are fragile, and that drilling would make the land even more unstable.

Drinking water is pulled from as far as 3,000 feet below ground here, and graphics shows Burnett drilling 12,000 below the surface -- which would cut through all of the area's drinking water aquifers.

"The further south you get the less confined (and contained) the aquifers are," Beever said.

The 110,000 acres Burnett is considering is all in rural eastern Collier County.

Any ecological or hydraulic damages is expected to repair itself in 1 to 3 years, the assessment says.

Seismic activity would occur December through May, the assessment says, and NPS is required to make sure the operation has minimal impact on the 680,000 or so people who visit the preserve annually.

Seismic testing is conducted by generating sound waves beneath the surface. Burnett plans to use massive truck-like vehicles that are 12 feet wide and have a hydraulic pump that pounds metal plates into the ground.

The sounds reflect off dirt and different rock types, and the reverberations allow experts to map out features under the surface.

Oil companies conduct these types of exploration prior to drilling, in most cases, because going thousands of feet beneath the surface is costly.

Florida's public lands are under increasing pressure from corporations that want to extract oil and gas, cut timber and keep livestock on these lands. State Department of Environmental Protection is currently considering whether or not to allow hunting in all 161 Florida parks.

While establishing the parameters of the preserve and what activities could be conducted there, federal reviewers said at that time purchasing gas and mineral rights was not necessary to protect Big Cypress.

Oil and gas exploration in Southwest Florida started in the early 1940s. Companies like Exxon, Shell, Mobil and Calumet Florida, Inc conducted similar tests between the 1970s and 1990s.

Landowners have the right, in most cases, to explore for any oil, gas or mineral on lands they own. NPS must abide by that fact during the review, but it also has to consider the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act and other laws and orders.

Connect with this reporter: ChadGillisNP on Twitter.

If you go

What: Public meeting regarding environmental assessment for seismic testing in Big Cypress National Preserve

When: 8 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 8

Where: Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center, 33000 Tamiami Trail East, Ochopee

By the numbers

110,000: Thousand acres within the seismic testing zone

665.523: Visitors in 2010 

69: Percent of visitors who said they go to the park for wildlife watching

12: Foot wide trucks will be used to access the site

26: Pounds per square inch of pressure exerted by tires on trucks used during testing

Source: National Park Service