Local leaders, clean energy activists, unite against plan to drill for oil in Everglades

Kanter Real Estate plans to build well near Broward/Miami-Dade county line

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Local leaders and clean energy activists are uniting against a plan that would allow a company to drill for oil in the Florida Everglades. 

"Not here. Not Now. Not ever. No oil rigs in our Everglades," Diana Umpierre, of the Everglades Restoration campaign, said.    

The impassioned words were spoken over a microphone at Everglades Holiday Park as environmentalists, county and municipal leaders spoke out against the early February District Court of Appeal ruling. 

It states that Broward County investor Kanter Real Estate can build an oil well in a section of the Everglades near the Broward/Miami-Dade County line. 

"When we read in the ruling that this doesn't pose any significant threat to our water supply, I think we could all agree we don't want to see any threats to our water supply," Broward County Commissioner Beam Furr said.  

Broward County already passed a resolution in opposition to the exploratory well. They're now asking the governor to step in and back up their effort to prioritize the environment and what they say is a move to protect the water supply.

"And just the thought of any drill-bits piercing our lime stone, injecting God knows what into it, to threaten our water, cannot be tolerated," Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam said.


About the Author:

Saira Anwer joined the Local 10 News team in July 2018. Saira is two-time Emmy-nominated reporter and comes to South Florida from Madison, Wisconsin, where she was working as a reporter and anchor.