Florida Administrative Code › 62 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › 62C - Division of Resource Management › Chapter 62C-30 - CONSERVATION OF OIL AND GAS: WETLANDS AND SUBMERGED LANDS › Section 62C-30.005 - Applications to Drill in the Big Cypress Watershed

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) The Department shall evaluate each
				application to drill and visit each proposed access route and drilling site in
				the Big Cypress Watershed to insure that the exploration and production
				activities will cause no permanent adverse impact on the water resources and
				sheet flow of the area, or on the vegetation or the wildlife of the area, with
				special emphasis on rare and endangered species. In the event a proposed site
				is located on developed or highly impacted uplands, the Department shall review
				the application and staff field inspection reports and thereby determine
				whether to reinspect the site. If a reinspection is not necessary, the prior
				construction prohibition in subparagraph
				 62C-30.005(2)(a) 
				1., F.A.C., below shall not apply.
(2) In evaluating applications, the
				Department shall use the following criteria:
(a) Roads, including road extensions.
1. No road construction or improvement shall
				begin prior to obtaining a permit to drill.
2. Existing roads shall be used wherever
				feasible.
3. Existing roads, if
				improved, or new roads where constructed, shall be from trucked-in fill
				material or from material taken from approved borrow pits. There shall be no
				parallel borrow canals along roads.
4. All roads shall be culverted and
				maintained to prevent degradation by industry vehicles. The size and number of
				culverts shall be determined so that the natural flow of water is not impeded
				and the resource is protected.
5.
				All roads shall be only wide enough to accommodate one lane of traffic, but
				shall have at least one turn-out every mile for passing.
6. All roads shall be high enough to assure
				year round usage, except where otherwise expressly required to be
				lower.
7. All roads shall follow
				the best practical route suited to protect the natural environment. Where
				feasible, roads and road extensions should follow existing woods
				roads.
8. Roads shall be
				constructed to avoid serious damage or enduring scars to land and wildlife, and
				to avoid obstructing the natural movement of water and wildlife.
9. All roads shall be restored as specified
				in Rule  62C-29.009, F.A.C.
10. All new access roads authorized to serve
				the needs of the exploration activities shall be limited in use to the
				permitted purpose. For these limited use access roads, the applicant shall
				submit as a part of the permit application the means to accomplish the limited
				use, including the control of unauthorized vehicles, for the life of the
				permitted purpose of the road.
11.
				Access corridors and drilling pads shall not be constructed into or through
				sensitive resources such as cypress-mixed forest swamps, hardwood hammocks,
				mangrove forests, archeological sites, native ceremonial grounds and those
				zones which are documented and/or confirmed by the Florida Game and Fresh Water
				Fish Commission as areas of high level Florida panther activity unless
				reasonable and prudent alternatives are not available. Known red-cockaded
				woodpecker colonies, rookeries, alligator holes, research sites, pine uplands,
				and threatened or endangered species habitats shall be avoided where
				possible.
12. Access corridors
				(including pipelines) shall be contiguous where possible and corridors
				emanating from new entry points shall be prohibited unless demonstrated to be
				the more prudent and reasonable alternative.