TALLAHASSEE, Florida — The state on Friday took an initial step toward buying a vast swath of land along the Apalachicola River that appears to include a proposed oil drilling site in Calhoun County.
The state Acquisition and Restoration Council voted Friday to study a proposal to add to the state land-buying list 18,854 acres in four counties, including apparently the Clearwater Land and Mineral’s drilling site 1.5 miles northwest of the river.
Cameron Baxley of the Apalachicola Riverkeeper group, a conservation organization focused on the river, said Friday the proposed addition includes the drilling site. A Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson on Friday would not confirm whether the drilling site was included, after first being asked on Thursday.
Hundreds of people on Monday attended an oil drilling protest outside the DEP headquarters building as a three-day hearing began on a legal challenge to the proposed state drilling permit. But site opponents apparently were not aware that the council, meeting later in the week, would consider moves to buy the land for conservation — which could effectively kill off the proposed drilling project.
