The Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure that would ban hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” for oil and natural gas in Florida.
The American Petroleum Institute and its state affiliate spoke at length in opposition to the bill, arguing the drilling practice has not been scientifically proven to contaminate groundwater and that an outright ban may abridge property and mineral rights enshrined by a state law known as the Bert J. Harris Private Property Rights Protection Act.
Business groups also argued a fracking ban could inhibit energy production and harm the state economy. But Sen. Dana Young, a Tampa Republican sponsoring the bill (SB 442), defended a ban on the controversial drilling practice. “We are not foreclosing on any individual’s property rights. We are simply foreclosing one method which is incompatible with the geology of our state,” Young said while brandishing a piece of porous limestone found throughout much of Florida. The measure has 14 co-sponsors, including four Republicans. It now moves to the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee.
A House version (HB 451), filed by Rep. Alex Miller, R-Sarasota, and House Minority Leader Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, has not been heard in committee.–News Service of Florida
