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State again denies Everglades oil exploration permit
For the second time, the state denied a family's application to explore for Everglades oil in southwest Broward County
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) again denied an application by a Miami family for a permit to explore for oil about six miles west of Miramar in the Everglades.
The DEP denial went against a ruling by an administrative law judge to recommend approval of the oil-exploration application by Kanter Real Estate LLC.
The limited liability company represents the family of the Joseph Kanter, a Miami real estate developer and banker who amassed more than 20,000 acres of Everglades land in southwest Boward County for a town that never got built.
The company applied for a permit to build an exploratory well 11,800 feet deep on six acres of the Kanter family’s land to determine how much oil could be extracted there.
The DEP rejected the initial application filed by Kanter Real Estate LLC, which went to court and last month won a favorable ruling from a state administrative law judge.
The judge recommended that the DEP reverse its decision and approve the drilling permit, finding that the exploration project probably would not contaminate groundwater, probably would reveal significant oil reserves, and would unfold in part of the Everglades that already was environmentally degraded.
The judge’s ruling forced the DEP to review its denial of the permit application, which the state agency affirmed last week. [Sun-Sentinel] – Mike Seemuth