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Florida House Backs High Profile ‘Fracking’ Oil Drilling Bill
January 28, 2016
After an intense debate spread over two days, the Florida House on Wednesday approved a bill that would revamp regulation of the controversial oil and gas drilling process known as “fracking.”
The bill, in part, would bar local governments from imposing moratoriums on fracking, while requiring the state Department of Environmental Protection to undertake a wide-ranging study that would include looking at potential risks and economic benefits of the process.
The bill (HB 191) dealing with oil and gas drilling spurred heavy debate Tuesday and Wednesday and passed in a 73-45 vote that was nearly along party lines. Republicans Halsey Beshears of Monticello, Chris Latvala of Clearwater, Mike Miller of Winter Park, Holly Raschein of Key Largo, Greg Steube of Sarasota, Jay Trumbull of Panama City and Charles Van Zant of Keystone Heights crossed party lines to vote against the measure.
Supporters of the bill point, in part, to efforts to gain energy independence. Also, they say oil and natural-gas drilling has taken place in parts of Northwest Florida and Southwest Florida for decades.
Rep. Cary Pigman, an Avon Park Republican who has helped sponsor the bill, said the measure includes safeguards, such as the Department of Environmental Protection study. After conducting the study, the department would develop proposed fracking rules, which would have to be ratified by the Legislature.
“Wishing for a zero-risk process or some absolute safety is not possible,” Pigman, a physician, said. “I acknowledge that oil and natural-gas production is an untidy process. So is all of mining, so is farming, so is industry, yet our society needs energy, we need food and we need the finished products made from natural resources.”
But Democrats railed against the bill, with Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, saying it would put out a “welcome mat” for fracking. The process, more formally known as hydraulic fracturing, has spurred controversy across the country, with critics arguing it can lead to problems such as contamination of water supplies and earthquakes.
“Why would we even want to consider a bill that is going to potentially poison our drinking water? What we’re doing is we’re injecting toxic fluids in the ground,” Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton said. “What’s wrong with us here? I mean, something’s going on. And you know what’s going on, this fracking bill is really called the anything for money bill.”
Democrats also pointed to numerous local governments that have voted to prohibit fracking in their communities. Rep. Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek, read a list of counties scattered throughout the state.
“Our county scientists in Broward as well as Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County and beyond have looked at this issue and have determined that fracking is not a good thing, it is not a good thing for our state,” Jacobs said.
Rep. Ray Rodrigues, an Estero Republican who has sponsored the bill, said he recognizes that the proposal is in a “center of a storm of controversy.” But he pointed to historical examples such as Florida allowing electricity in homes, clearing the way for automobiles and being home to the space industry.
“If you look at our history, challenges and controversies have always confronted this chamber, and the choices have always been the same — are we going to react with fear, are we going to react with pessimism or are we going to be cynical? Or are we going to react with courage, are we going to react with optimism, and are we going to seek the ideal?’ Rodrigues said.
A similar Senate bill (SB 318), sponsored by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, has been approved by two committees and awaits a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Pictured above: Quantum Resources in Jay. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
29 Responses to “Florida House Backs High Profile ‘Fracking’ Oil Drilling Bill”
You may certainly ask my wife. Whom I fervently believe would be in agreement with you.
REGARDING:
“Being skeptical is an obligation. Fervent belief? I reserve that for very, very few things.”
I agree with the first, am skeptical as to the latter.
David for proof
Being skeptical is an obligation. Fervent belief? I reserve that for very, very few things.
REGARDING:
” Lastly, isn’t it curious the Bald Eagle population has rebounded after the ban of DDT?”
The really curious thing is that eagle populations rebounded AFTER people started using DDT, not after they quit.
Per:
http://dwb.unl.edu/Teacher/NSF/C06/C06Links/www.altgreen.com.au/Chemicals/ddt.html
“In actuality, however, declines in bird populations either had occurred before DDT was present or had occured years after DDT’s use. A comparison of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Counts between 1941 (pre-DDT) and 1960 (after DDT’s use had waned) reveals that at least 26 different kinds of birds became more numerous during those decades, the period of greatest DDT usage. The Audubon counts document an overall increase in birds seen per observer from 1941 to 1960, and statistical analyses of the Audubon data confirm the perceived increases. For example, only 197 bald eagles were documented in 1941; the number had increased to 891 in 1960.”
And as to cancer:
“In October 1997 the New England Journal of Medicine published a large, well-designed study that found no evidence that exposure to DDT and DDE increases the risk of breast cancer. In the accompanying editorial Dr. Steven Safe, a toxicologist at Texas A&M University, stated, “weakly estrogenic organochlorine compounds such as PCBs, DDT, and DDE are not a cause of breast cancer.” Dr. Sheila Zahm, deputy chief of the occupational epidemiology branch at the National Cancer Institute, agrees that the body of evidence that DDT can cause breast cancer “is not very compelling.” ”
David for building on truth, not lies
REGARDING:
“DDT is safe for humans, really? Then why do we have the Stockholm Convention banning the use of DDT except as a last resort for mosquito control and then only when all other safer methods are exhausted?”
.
I stand corrected.
They did finally find a link for those with high exposure rates.
At the time it was banned, they had found no link and I believe the Stockholm Convention in 1995 was also before any real links were found.
(Could be wrong about that too.)
Conventions can be held for many reasons and have many agendas. They are not always supported by science. In fact, when one works the science afterward, one wonders if there is confirmation bias, but that could have been the case before, too. You see what you expect to see.
People bathed in DDT in Italy during WW2 to kill the fleas which were killing them by carrying other diseases. My uncle described dipping his hands in drums of DDT just as one would use soap nowadays.
One would think a strong link would have shown up in all of them.
It didn’t.
This still leaves me skeptical of the recent studies.
David for truth
Fracking has points of views from many groups either for or against it using their science to argue their case. My main point of contention is the debate has effectively been muted with the inclusion of no community being allowed to ban fracking. Period. No consensus allowed after each community weighs the pros and cons if it differs from our elected officials point of view in Tallahassee. Has there ever been a gathering of the local opinion regarding this issue done in a fair and balanced manner? Given the delicate balance of our local environment can you confidently say you can support or object fracking? It doesn’t matter now because our say is against the law but it should matter. Simply as a privilege of our rights.
Regarding:
DDT is safe for humans, really? Then why do we have the Stockholm Convention banning the use of DDT except as a last resort for mosquito control and then only when all other safer methods are exhausted? DDE the breakdown chemical of DDT in humans has been linked to cancer, birth defects etc in the USA where people were exposed to low levels of the pesticide. I think we can take Mexico off the list of countries using DDT as a first line of defense against malaria as they now control mosquitoes by reducing stagnate water, pyrethroid insecticides and other safer methods. Lastly, isn’t it curious the Bald Eagle population has rebounded after the ban of DDT? With the introduction of the Zika concerns I think DDT should be used but only as a last resort. Safe? About as much as Fracking!
One other thing, the fracking already done has already raised domestic production enough to greatly reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil supplies. The wells so treated will continue to produce for years to come.
The basic procedures are not patented and producers around the world can and have improved THEIR production.
This has lowered the price enough that most fracking has stopped for now, but will remain available if OPEC ever tries to shaft us again.
This leaves them with less extra money to finance wars and terrorists
David for side benefits of technologies
REGARDING:
“When someone wants to put a mine near people I can just hear the cries of “not in my backyard”!”
.
And yet gravel lakes are all over the place.
We fish in them.
We swim in them.
We picnic around them.
.
Technically speaking, they are strip mines.
And we have also allowed oil and gas drilling all around us.
Truth overcomes false claims.
I see no reason for using hydraulic fracturing in Florida due to the geology, but many conflate acid jobs with fracking — totally different animals.
What most opponents have is a mixture of possible isolated problems misapplied and generalized, repeated back at each other repeatedly.
David for replacing Middle Eastern oil
REGARDING:
“by some supposed expert on the matter but the same can be said about experts that DDT was safe for crops too. ”
DDT is safe for crops.
Safe for humans according to the CDC, although they decided to list it as a “likely” carcinogen despite all medical histories of people who used it in large quantities never showing any such effect.
It was banned in the USA out of fear it made eggshells thinner.
I haven’t seen where even THAT claim was ever verified.
It killed mosquitoes which carried diseases which killed millions of people per year.
That’s why it is still used elsewhere around the world, including Mexico, to save lives by killing killers.
David for mosquito control
How can any official allow this. It has been proven dangerous poisonous terrible to environment and animals. So how can anyone allow this. Must have been a profitable reason this should not be allowed
If you do not want Big oil and other interests to control your government then let the legislators know how you feel: send emails, phone calls, letters! Don’t sit by and complain…DO SOMETHING POSIYIVE! Otherwise they do as they please….look at what they are doing to SSI, to the water in Michigan….
Why risk something as vital as pure good drinking water?
When a Texas Oil Baron says “Not in my neighborhood”, there’s a problem with fracking…
Tony McAdams .. I feel sure you are enjoying gasoline prices below $2.00 per gallon. Why is this happening? In large part to fracking.
You’re not serious are you Tony? Fracking was the first operation shut down when the price per barrel dropped because there wasn’t any profit…
Fracking has been around for over 60 years and yes there is a difference between the depth of the aquifer and fracking targets. However, the technology is much different now and big oil lobbyist keep the EPA at arms length. How about some transparency in the chemicals used? They don’t want us to know that! What about all the stories from ranchers out west that have been displaced because of contaminated water? Why they must be mistake! Can’t be the fracking that started and then tap water could be set on fire could it? I can read Forbes article on why fracking is not bad by some supposed expert on the matter but the same can be said about experts that DDT was safe for crops too. As far as gas at $30 a barrel? I think OPEC keeping the supply up just to spite other countries is more of a plausible reason.
and they are depending on EPA? What a joke. EPA can’t even keep from polluting a major river, nor can or will they do anything to help with cleaning up pits.
Fracking at depths exceeding 10000 feet will cause no harm to the aquifer nor the overall environment. Please point out areas where deep fracking have caused any issues.. I feel sure you are enjoying gasoline prices below $2.00 per gallon. Why is this happening? In large part to fracking.
At $30.00 bbl I doubt you will see much drilling or fracking.
Most Floridians do not want fracking or oil drilling offshore In their state,
but they want low gas prices. DUH!! You can’t have both. Every one must share the good with the bad, (if fracking is bad).
The oil companies has been pumping things in the ground at Jay for years. Tallahassee loved the oil people then and they still do. Why? For the taxes and the political pay back the companies give them.
Florida is a tourism state & we have a beautiful natural habitat here; don’t ruin it for oil $$ & their special interest groups. If you want to be free of dependence to oil, how @ using some of our natural sunshine for “Solar Energy”?
As usual, our corrupt legislature sides with Big Business against the health & welfare of the citizens of the State of Florida.
Last week, it was the sop to be Big Sugar/Ag, further undercutting enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
Carl Hiassen:
“Touted as an environmental breakthrough, the water policy bill passed last week by the Florida Legislature is actually a major win for polluters and the politicians they own.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/carl-hiaasen/article54951780.html
If we didn’t rely so heavily on the aquifer for our water maybe it would be worth studying. But we do. It is it really worth the risk? And the inclusion of no county being able to make a rule not allowing fracking is big government trampling on our rights. It should be left to the voters to decide of each community. I think we’re smart enough!
Fracking is horrible for the environment. It may help us now but our children and their children will be the ones to suffer. I have researched this process for over two years now and I can tell you there has to be a better way. I want my children to have clean drinking water and fracking will definitely steal that from them. The government does not care about us little people, that is obvious these days.
Oh yeah, this will fly like a bird! Floridians don’t want drilling offshore anywhere around Florida, they will surely like chemicals being pumped at high pressure into the ground onshore.
It is scary when the government goes 180 degrees from the wishes of it’s people. The Grey Brigade, that old Republican stronghold, just might have a thing or two to say about this fracking stuff. Besides, there is already an oil glut that has the offshore oil biz on it’s knees, do we really need to make it worse & ruin the environment at the same time?
Another example of government “of the lobbyists, by the lobbyists and for the lobbyists’.
“Farming is untidy” but it’s hard to farm when you have to irrigate crops with contaminated water.
Our legislators, once again, have made me embarrassed to be a Republican.
Does anyone really think that the republicans would give a hoot about the environment or about water quality? There’s no money to be made when you take that outlook.
Kinda moot. There hasn’t been any drillilling in FL for years; none foreseen in the future I have heard of; at least in NW FL.
I have seen firsthand what mining does to the environment. It has ruined many areas of the country and no amount of EPA regulations or studies or cleanups will fix it. Look long and hard Florida….you already have unstable ground areas and water problems. When someone wants to put a mine near people I can just hear the cries of “not in my backyard”!