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Hi! my name is Jan Dobrowolski and I am currently attending school to earn my Bachelors degree. I work full time but always find time to enjoy the beautiful outdoors we have right here in our backyard. I was born and raised in Miami and will always have love for how diverse of an environment we live in. people don't respect nature the way it was intended to and really don't pay attention to the world around them and the harm their daily life causes.

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Step 2. Attending the research seminar was very beneficial because i had no clue that there were that many helpful websites for us to use. Prof. Duque guided us to the very different websites and showed us tips and tricks on how to use them and how easy it was to find hundred of different videos, research papers and books for our different types of research we might do in different topics pertaining to this class. kanopy and swank was the most interesting one because there are many types of research videos and papers out there but the easiest information to process would be the videos because it is more entertaining. I did know that MDC had a virtual library that i have used in the past and has helped write papers and pass classes. the virtual seminar helped find new ways MDC helps us pass our classes.

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Step 2. Attending the research seminar was very beneficial because i had no clue that there were that many helpful websites for us to use. Prof. Duque guided us to the very different websites and showed us tips and tricks on how to use them and how easy it was to find hundred of different videos, research papers and books for our different types of research we might do in different topics pertaining to this class. kanopy and swank was the most interesting one because there are many types of research videos and papers out there but the easiest information to process would be the videos because it is more entertaining. I did know that MDC had a virtual library that i have used in the past and has helped write papers and pass classes. the virtual seminar helped find new ways MDC helps us pass our classes.

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 Earthjustice group is coming together to stop oil drilling in the swamp

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 Earthjustice group is coming together to stop oil drilling in the swamp

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State environmental regulators last week denied a request by an oil company to drill wells near the Everglades.

But another company wants to drill two wells in the nearby Big Cypress National Preserve.

The drilling is being opposed by the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice.

Tania Galloni, an attorney with the Florida office of Earthjustice, says it's part of a larger challenge to a move done at the end of the Trump administration to transfer authority to bulldoze wetlands to Florida.

Galloni says the state has been lax in protecting wetlands.

"If you consider that Florida is at one of the greatest threats of sea level rise and climate change from intensifying storms," Galloni said, "the idea that we would drill for oil at all - and begin new drilling in the Everglades, one of the most ecologically sensitive parts of the state and for the region - it really makes no sense at all."
The above video is courtesy of Save Big Cypress and Earthjustice. It shows cypress trees and endangered flora mowed down by oil trucks inside Big Cypress National Preserve. Video obtained by Freedom of Information Act request by NRDC.
Galloni said the same oil company did seismic exploration several years ago, and there's concern about how much environmental damage that caused.

"We're also in a situation where people are finally starting to recognize the climate crisis that we're in," Galloni said. "And so the idea of - in Florida, of all places - to start new oil drilling, and to do it in the country's first national preserve, is pretty concerning."

She says another permit from the National Park Service is needed before Burnett can begin drilling.

Nine wells have been pumping oil from a small section of the Everglades since the early 1940s. It produces low-grade crude mostly used for lubrication and paving roads.

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A plan to drill two more oil wells in Big Cypress Swamp is being challenged

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State environmental regulators last week denied a request by an oil company to drill wells near the Everglades. But another company wants to drill two wells in the nearby Big Cypress National Preserve. The drilling is being opposed by the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice.

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Step 3. Big Cypress Preserve is located in the Everglades National Park, it covers a vast 729,000 acres of endangered forest and habitat which can only be found in South Florida, the preserve was founded in 1974. The national park is one of kind and is beyond beautiful and the best part it’s about a 30-to-45-minute drive down Tamiami trail which most of south Florida knows and has driven on at least once. The beauty of Miami is that we have beaches and swamp, it gives us a reminder as to what Florida once was and how vast and isolated, we once were. The oil wells disrupt ecosystems and damage vital water flow throughout the park by contaminating the water. Many people use the national park as a way to get away from the world, they go fishing, hunting, camping and hiking and it truly is another world there. In my opinion government officials should ban oil drilling in big cypress Preserve and for that matter no national park should be allowed to have oil wells in them.

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Step 3. Big Cypress Preserve is located in the Everglades National Park, it covers a vast 729,000 acres of endangered forest and habitat which can only be found in South Florida, the preserve was founded in 1974. The national park is one of kind and is beyond beautiful and the best part it’s about a 30-to-45-minute drive down Tamiami trail which most of south Florida knows and has driven on at least once. The beauty of Miami is that we have beaches and swamp, it gives us a reminder as to what Florida once was and how vast and isolated, we once were. The oil wells disrupt ecosystems and damage vital water flow throughout the park by contaminating the water. Many people use the national park as a way to get away from the world, they go fishing, hunting, camping and hiking and it truly is another world there. In my opinion government officials should ban oil drilling in big cypress Preserve and for that matter no national park should be allowed to have oil wells in them.

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just picture the harm those vehicles have on the ecosystem

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just picture the harm those vehicles have on the ecosystem

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Florida members of Congress call for denial of oil drilling permits in Big Cypress

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Congress members wrote to the Department of the Interior asking for a denial of two oil drilling permits within the Big Cypress National Preserve.

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Step 4. 1. Ogden, Laura A. “Searching for Paradise in the Florida Everglades.” Cultural Geographies, vol. 15, no. 2, Apr. 2008, pp. 207–229. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/1474474007087497.This article gives an in-depth look at the discovery and exploration. It helps readers understand the vast and beautiful land that lies right in our backyard. The article explains how many people use this land for supporting themselves for food or for hobby and why it means something to them.2. NIELSEN, K. (2016). Bad Vibes in Big Cypress. Sierra, 101(4), 50–51.    This Article will introduce the Big Cypress to readers and paint a mental image and encourage readers to venture out and experince it first hand. also this article brings up the problem that the Big Cypress ecosystem is facing due to oil drilling.3. Perez, Evan. “Amid Furor Over Offshore Drilling, Oil Flows From the Everglades.” Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition, vol. 237, no. 115, 13 June 2001, p. B1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=a9h&AN=4584645&site=ehost-live. This article i am using for my research paper explains how the issue with oil drilling in the everglades has been overlooked for a while.

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Step 4. 1. Ogden, Laura A. “Searching for Paradise in the Florida Everglades.” Cultural Geographies, vol. 15, no. 2, Apr. 2008, pp. 207–229. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/1474474007087497.This article gives an in-depth look at the discovery and exploration. It helps readers understand the vast and beautiful land that lies right in our backyard. The article explains how many people use this land for supporting themselves for food or for hobby and why it means something to them.2. NIELSEN, K. (2016). Bad Vibes in Big Cypress. Sierra, 101(4), 50–51.    This Article will introduce the Big Cypress to readers and paint a mental image and encourage readers to venture out and experince it first hand. also this article brings up the problem that the Big Cypress ecosystem is facing due to oil drilling.3. Perez, Evan. “Amid Furor Over Offshore Drilling, Oil Flows From the Everglades.” Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition, vol. 237, no. 115, 13 June 2001, p. B1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=a9h&AN=4584645&site=ehost-live. This article i am using for my research paper explains how the issue with oil drilling in the everglades has been overlooked for a while.

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How can we harm these beautiful creatures and their home?

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How can we harm these beautiful creatures and their home?

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Step 7. Good morning my name is Jan Dobrowolski. Briefly, introduce yourself to the audience, I reside in Miami, Florida and pursuing my bachelors degree. on my off time from school and work i enjoy the outdoor or turning wrenches, i work full time as an aviation mechanic.The topic I selected was about the pressing issue that we are having on the study for oil in our backyard in Big Cypress National Preserve .I selected this topic because it is very concering as i live nearby and go for hikes or bike rides or even hunting and fishing and would be hurt to see such a beautiful area be destroyed.My research shows that the effects on the land and wildlife are huge and just because someone wants to make money off our natural resources should'nt allow them to go ahead and destroy something so perfect and endangered.My thoughts about this are that as an aviation mechanic it hurts to think about global warming and what are methods of transportation add to it but as such smart as humans are we somehow have not created a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels this day in age. we have to come up with something to help our planet last much longer.The titles of the sources I used for my talk were; oil drilling and wetlands don't mix- especially in big cypress, Searching for Paradise in the Florida Everglades, Bad Vibes in Big Cypress and Amid Furor Over Offshore Drilling, Oil Flows From the EvergladesThank You for Listening!

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Step 7. Good morning my name is Jan Dobrowolski. Briefly, introduce yourself to the audience, I reside in Miami, Florida and pursuing my bachelors degree. on my off time from school and work i enjoy the outdoor or turning wrenches, i work full time as an aviation mechanic.The topic I selected was about the pressing issue that we are having on the study for oil in our backyard in Big Cypress National Preserve .I selected this topic because it is very concering as i live nearby and go for hikes or bike rides or even hunting and fishing and would be hurt to see such a beautiful area be destroyed.My research shows that the effects on the land and wildlife are huge and just because someone wants to make money off our natural resources should'nt allow them to go ahead and destroy something so perfect and endangered.My thoughts about this are that as an aviation mechanic it hurts to think about global warming and what are methods of transportation add to it but as such smart as humans are we somehow have not created a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels this day in age. we have to come up with something to help our planet last much longer.The titles of the sources I used for my talk were; oil drilling and wetlands don't mix- especially in big cypress, Searching for Paradise in the Florida Everglades, Bad Vibes in Big Cypress and Amid Furor Over Offshore Drilling, Oil Flows From the EvergladesThank You for Listening!

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they have been here longer than we have and are destroying their home!

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they have been here longer than we have and are destroying their home!

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when will big companies realize this is not the place!

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when will big companies realize this is not the place!

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By all regards, the Tamiami Trail that streaks from Naples on the west coast of Florida to Miami on the east was an engineering wonder when it was built a century ago. More than 2.5 million sticks of dynamite were used to crumble the limestone hidden under the surface muck, and it was used to build a stout roadbed that not only funneled vehicles east and west across South Florida but which also created a dam that blocked the river of grass on its way to Florida Bay.

Today, of course, the state and federal governments are spending billions of dollars to restore the watery flow of the Everglades, and part of that work involved lifting up sections of the Tamiami Trail -- U.S. 41 -- and placing them on bridges to allow the water to flow on south unimpeded towards the bay. You can see the successes by driving along the Trail as it cuts right through the heart of Big Cypress National Preserve, a 720,000-acre watery slice of natural wonderment, a wild landscape lurked by Florida panthers, bobcats and black bear and festooned in spring with Cardinal airplants, a species considered endangered by the state, that clutch onto dwarf cypress trees.

Against the costly work of what is known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, there are ongoing efforts to seek oil beneath Big Cypress that could result in construction of miniature "dams" that could impact the river of grass as well by altering the flow of water. The damage would not be equal to that done by the Tamami Trail when it was built, but there would be impacts just the same.

While the actual practice of drilling oil out from under the national preserve does not greatly concern two geologists well-familiar with the underpinnings of South Florida, the surface infrastructure needed to drill for oil is a concern when risks to the preserve are explored, they told the Traveler in separate interviews.

"The issue, at least in my opinion in terms of hydrology and groundwater contamination and those kinds of issues, relates to the surface facilities around the well," said Tom Missimer, who spent 34 years consulting on oil drilling before heading into academia at Florida Gulf Coast University a little more than a decade ago. "The key to me is really not the construction of the well. The issue is if they're maintaining surface facilities."

Those facilities might include large tanks to store the recovered oil before it's trucked it off to a refinery, or a pipeline system to pump the oil away. Also involved are containment systems for the briny water that is separated from the oil.

"Your potential points of contamination are around the site where they collect the oil and water," Missimer explained during a recent phone call. "The water is disposed of in class-two injection wells. Shallow monitoring wells are required around these facilities to monitor if anything escapes."

The roads needed to reach the well pads also are of a concern in the preserve, he said.

"To me, the real issues are the infrastructure and the roads. The rest of the stuff is standard industrial practices," said Missimer. "Temporarily, the roads have to be above water so you can get trucks in and out or a pipeline, however they're going to produce. To me that's the only issue."

Two-hundred-and-fifty miles north of Missimer, in Gainesville, Florida, Jim Gross shares much the same concerns. A former geologist who worked in the geothermal industry and who now is executive director of Florida Defenders of Environment, Gross doesn't worry much about contamination to the preserve or the Floridan aquifer coming from the practice of actually drilling for oil.

"The major problem with drilling in the Everglades is not so much the issue with potentially damaging water supplies or people," said Gross. "It has more to do with damaging the natural hydrology of the Everglades. These are very fragile systems at the surface. The landscapes for the most part are not suited for roads. Which is why when we built the first roads east and west across the Everglades we had to build them up with a base, because it's not really solid. It's mushy, gushy organic muck.

"So when we send drilling equipment down there and start messing around with the land surface to get equipment in and out, they not only just tear down vegetation, but in some cases they sort of have to build roadways to get equipment in and out," he continued. "Drilling rigs are big things, and they come in on big trucks, and the stuff that comes out is on big trucks. So it's a kind of operation that inherently interferes with the land surface, a land surface that depends mightily on a very even hydraulic gradient for surface water to flow."

Burnett Oil Co. spent parts of 2017 and 2018 conducting seismic testing in Big Cypress in a search for oil. While the Texas company hasn't publicly stated what that testing indicated, in late January it applied to both the state of Florida and the National Park Service at Big Cypress for the necessary permits to develop two well pads from which to snake drill bits horizontally beneath the preserve landscape and, hopefully, into economically rich oil reservoirs.

That exploration work left impacts on the Big Cypress landscape. How great those impacts are vary depending on whom you ask. Park Service officials have been satisfied with what's been done so far to remove the tracks and trenches left by 33-ton vibroseis trucks that create sound waves by shaking the earth with their great weight, sound waves that geologists study to determine if they passed through oil beds.

Environmental groups including the National Parks Conservation Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, and South Florida Wildlands Association believe much work needs to be done to return the vehicle impacts to the land's natural contours.

Beyond the impacts from exploration, there is reason to be concerned about infrastructure impacts related to well development, beyond those concerns raised by Missimer and Gross. Back in April 2019 a watchdog group, Florida Food & Water Watch, pointed out that "(A)lthough Florida is currently home to only 87 wells, Food & Water Watch found that between 2015 and 2018, production led to 35 spills, averaging 9 a year."

"From June 2015 to October 2018 at least 330 gallons of oil and 27,746 gallons of wastewater spilled into soil, water, farmland, and land near schools," the group added. "Collier County, just next to the Everglades, experienced one of the largest volume oil spills in the state when a tank holding 10,000 gallons of wastewater and oil ruptured in 2015."

While Burnett has submitted its drilling plans to the Park Service, the agency has not yet released them to the public. Big Cypress Superintendent Tom Forsyth said they would be released when his staff releases a draft environmental assessment it's preparing on the drilling proposal. No date has been announced for the release of the draft EA.

That the Park Service has chosen to do an EA and not a more extensive and thorough investigation into possible impacts via an environmental impact statement has raised concerns from environmental groups, especially because it's believed that the last time the Park Service closely examined potential drilling impacts was for its 1991 General Management Plan.

"There is no way that the (EA) analyzes and discloses to the public the impacts with new drilling technologies, like directional or horizontal drilling, which is being proposed by Burnett Oil, much less any well stimulation techniques they may use, such as fracking or acidizing," Alison Kelly, a lands attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Traveler in February.

Back at Florida Gulf Coast University, Missimer scratched his head over the thought of using the park's three-decade old General Management Plan and its analysis of oil drilling impacts to evaluate Burnett's proposal.

"Thirty years ago horizontal offset drilling wasn't around. These rigs today are quite elaborate," he said.

In Gainesville, Gross frankly wondered why the drilling proposal was even being entertained by the state and federal agencies.

"It seemingly can't avoid having some adverse impacts on an ecosystem that has already suffered enormously over the last few decades with our desire to make wet areas dry and dry areas wet, as one former governor put it," he said.

"There's only one Everglades anywhere in the world. It's an oft-repeated saying, but it merits saying it, and we should be working to try to restore the plumbing, that major plumbing system down there," Gross added. "We've been delaying for decades in doing it, and this is just going in the wrong direction."

Past Traveler stories pertaining to this project include:
Mixing Oil And Water At Big Cypress National Preserve Army Corps Finds Big Cypress National Preserve Oil Exploration Caused Adverse Impacts Army Corps Reverses Position On Oil Company's Impacts On Big Cypress National Preserve Groups Want Florida To Purchase Big Cypress National Preserve Mineral Rights Burnett Oil Inching Towards Drilling At Big Cypress National Preserve Oil Drilling At Big Cypress National Preserve Might Not Require EIS

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Geologists Share Their Concerns With Drilling For Oil In Big Cypress

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The actual practice of drilling oil out from under Big Cypress National Preserve does not greatly concern two geologists well-familiar with the underpinnings of South Florida. However, the surface infrastructure needed to drill for oil is a concern when risks to the preserve are explored, they said.

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Step 5. I. Definition/Introduction  A. The Big cypress preserve is connected within the national park but for some reason does not fall within those protected bounds and oil drilling has been done within the grounds thanks to Barron Collier which purchased 1.25 million acres of swamp in 1921, in 1974 the federal government purchased 500,000 of the acres and declared it the big cypress national preserve but the collier family kept the mineral rights. B. Thesis statement: oil can be found in many parts of the world or other innovative ways to create more eco-friendly fuels can be created or studied to prevent the destruction of our beautiful world. II. Context/History - Tie to Your Neighborhood, Community, or City  A. home to people and endangered species  1. It is home to hundreds of species only found here in south Florida such and the Florida panther, there are only 150 panthers left  2. all the noise and vibration could affect the way animals normally hunt and lives their lives B. lively hood for tribal people and outdoor enthusiasts  1. Damages a local ecosystem that can affect future generations of people to enjoy the outdoors that’s right in our backyard and affect the lively hood of a whole traditional living of a tribe  2. many tourists and locals enjoy the natural resources the preserve has to offer such and hiking, kayaking, fishing and hunting  III. Causes and Consequences  A. Destruction with vehicles 1. 30-ton vehicles that lower a plate to vibrate the ground to look for oil2. When the 4 phases of study have been done 32 percent of the preserve will have been traversed. B. destruction of vegetation 1. Those vehicles must go somewhere and will creates paths where no vehicle has ever gone  2. Spread of invasive plant species throughout the preserve and beyond such as the Brazilian pepper. IV. Possible Solutions/Community Service-Agencies  1.Summary - Government officials should put a stop to the study of fossil fuel in protected areas that have delicate ecosystems to help preserve wildlife and ecosystems for future generations. 2.Importance of topic- this topic is important because people need to realize how this earth, we live on can only take so much and the more we let others take advantage of it, the less future generations will have to their enjoyment and pleasure. 3. Strong closing statement- people need to take action and realize things are not going to change unless we all come together and put a stop to the destruction and exploitation of natural resources and animals that have no way of defending themselves.

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Step 5. I. Definition/Introduction  A. The Big cypress preserve is connected within the national park but for some reason does not fall within those protected bounds and oil drilling has been done within the grounds thanks to Barron Collier which purchased 1.25 million acres of swamp in 1921, in 1974 the federal government purchased 500,000 of the acres and declared it the big cypress national preserve but the collier family kept the mineral rights. B. Thesis statement: oil can be found in many parts of the world or other innovative ways to create more eco-friendly fuels can be created or studied to prevent the destruction of our beautiful world. II. Context/History - Tie to Your Neighborhood, Community, or City  A. home to people and endangered species  1. It is home to hundreds of species only found here in south Florida such and the Florida panther, there are only 150 panthers left  2. all the noise and vibration could affect the way animals normally hunt and lives their lives B. lively hood for tribal people and outdoor enthusiasts  1. Damages a local ecosystem that can affect future generations of people to enjoy the outdoors that’s right in our backyard and affect the lively hood of a whole traditional living of a tribe  2. many tourists and locals enjoy the natural resources the preserve has to offer such and hiking, kayaking, fishing and hunting  III. Causes and Consequences  A. Destruction with vehicles 1. 30-ton vehicles that lower a plate to vibrate the ground to look for oil2. When the 4 phases of study have been done 32 percent of the preserve will have been traversed. B. destruction of vegetation 1. Those vehicles must go somewhere and will creates paths where no vehicle has ever gone  2. Spread of invasive plant species throughout the preserve and beyond such as the Brazilian pepper. IV. Possible Solutions/Community Service-Agencies  1.Summary - Government officials should put a stop to the study of fossil fuel in protected areas that have delicate ecosystems to help preserve wildlife and ecosystems for future generations. 2.Importance of topic- this topic is important because people need to realize how this earth, we live on can only take so much and the more we let others take advantage of it, the less future generations will have to their enjoyment and pleasure. 3. Strong closing statement- people need to take action and realize things are not going to change unless we all come together and put a stop to the destruction and exploitation of natural resources and animals that have no way of defending themselves.