Sign the petition: Protect Florida panthers from the oil industry.
Brian Call - CREDO
Sign the petition: Protect Florida panthers from the oil industry.
Rare and iconic Florida panthers number barely over 100 in the wild and can't withstand unnecessary, new threats. Yet, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued a permit for the construction of a new oil and gas waste disposal well less than one mile from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge -- which is prime habitat for the endangered Florida panther.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can still intervene to stop the oil waste injection well and save Florida panthers, but it won't do so unless there's a massive public outcry. That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to the Environmental Protection Agency, says the following:
With as few as 100 Florida panthers alive today, we can't allow additional threats from Big Oil and its machinery. I urge the EPA to deny the permit to drill a new, unneeded injection well less than one mile from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.
Tell the EPA: Stop big oil from killing Florida panthers.
As a professional nature photographer, I have witnessed firsthand the leading cause of panther deaths in Florida—being struck by vehicles. Not long ago, I had the heartbreaking experience of coming upon a Florida panther kitten that had been killed by a car. My very first instinct was to reach out and pat her lifeless body which was left strewn across the centerline of the road. As I did that, I came to realize that her mother was calling out to her from some brush not far away. I knew then that I needed to do more than just photograph Florida’s wildlife if I wanted it to endure.
The proposed oil drill waste disposal well would bring with it hundreds of truck trips that could harass or kill endangered Florida panthers, pushing them even closer to the brink of extinction. Just this year, 12 panthers have been killed in Florida putting the state on path to exceed the average of 17 panthers killed annually by vehicles.
Not only would this well increase vehicle traffic, it could potentially contaminate the ground and water Florida Panthers rely on. We should not entertain any plan that might bring new toxic threats to these already beleaguered cats or the habitat they need to survive.
To make matters worse, the Texas company that is applying to drill this oil injection well is already in hot water over another well in the state of Florida. It has been fined $25,000 for acting outside the scope of the permitted activity at the well site. This company has already been accused of breaking the law once. We shouldn't allow it to put highly-endangered panthers at risk by letting its well proposal move forward.
Thank you for your support.
Brian Call
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