Seismic testing on hold in Gulf, Calhoun counties

A Texas oil company’s plans to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas in Calhoun and Gulf counties are on hold because of a legal challenge filed by a Clarksville man worried it will lead to fracking.

Cholla Petroleum is seeking permits from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to test in a swath of private land stretching from about 17 miles south of Blountstown in Calhoun County to immediately north of Wewahitchka in coastal Gulf County.

The testing involves the use of small explosive charges, dropped in shot holes 100 feet deep in about 1,000 spots around the Chipola River and the Dead Lakes and just north of the fragile Apalachicola Bay. About a third of the testing zone is located in wetlands.

DEP last month issued notices of its intent to issue permits allowing the testing, and affected parties had until 5 p.m. Thursday to challenge the agency action. Late Thursday afternoon, Robert Voss, a retired law enforcement officer, filed a petition seeking to block the permits.

“The petitioner believes that process of explosive mapping is, in and of itself, a threat to the watershed and rivers and the county’s underground substrate and wildlife,” Voss wrote. “More particularly, the area chosen along 60 miles of the Chipola River to the Dead Lakes would be one of the worst possible places in terms of disruption in the county.”

Voss is a board vice president of the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, a living history museum in Blountstown. And he a board member of the RiverWay South Apalachicola Choctawhatchee organization, a group devoted to the preservation of natural, cultural and historic resources in nine counties.

He wrote in the petition that testing will lead to fracking and the use of “volatile chemicals” to release oil and gas from underground, creating “voids and sink holes.” He also complained production would lead to pollution and increased traffic from heavy vehicles on rural roads.

“In short, if we are to ban fracking, we have no need for a survey, creating explosions and the irreparable damage to the ecosystem and wildlife,” he wrote.

Cholla, which initially wanted to begin testing in December, hasn’t said whether it would frack, though it has a history of doing so in Texas. The seismic testing is an early phase of exploration. If it proved promising, it’s likely the company would seek permits for exploratory drilling. Actual production could begin if oil and gas were found.

The Gulf County Commission last year approved a ban on fracking, but the Calhoun County Commission opted not to pass one. Representatives of the Neal Land & Timber Company, which owns much of the land where testing would occur, urged commissioners in Calhoun County to reject a fracking ban.

DEP planned to issue permits allowing the testing after the company submitted detailed plans to protect wildlife and cultural resources. Monitors overseen by DEP would accompany crews during testing.

The agency is reviewing Voss' petition for legal sufficiency. If it passes that legal hurdle, it will be referred to the Division of Administrative Hearings, and a hearing date would be set. DEP couldn't issue any permits until the hearing process is complete.