Possible Florida fracking ban gains early steam in Senate committee

James Call | Tallahassee Democrat

Show Caption Hide Caption How 'fracking' works Fracking has been the subject of much debate. But before your form an opinion on the subject, first consider the process.

Despite the objections of the state’s largest producer of oil and natural gas, a Senate panel Monday gave unanimous approval to a proposal to ban fracking in Florida.

Lawmakers sided with more than two dozen environmental groups, which urged them to be pro-active in addressing what they said was a threat to clean water when SB 200 came up for a hearing in the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

“I don’t think we need to wait for a catastrophe and then say, ‘If we had only done something else,'” said Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, the sponsor of a bill, which he had worked on for seven years.

Fracking supporters cautioned the panel not to do anything to hamper production techniques or emerging technologies that they said have enabled the country to become energy independent. There are seven active oil and gas fields in Florida. Two in Santa Rosa County and five in Lee and Collier counties.

Back story:

Last year, they produced fewer than 2 million barrels of oil. Oil and natural gas production peaked in Florida in the 1970s, with natural gas production today being a third of what it once was.

Maverick Natural Resources is the state’s biggest producer. The company sent a vice president to the meeting to oppose Montford’s proposal, but he did not address the bill’s specifics.

Justin Foley told lawmakers the company, “desires only to continue to work and partner with the State of Florida, its regulatory agencies and other customers to continue to produce oil and gas in a safe and efficient manner as the industry has done since 1940, here in the State of Florida.”

Montford seeks to define and prohibit hydraulic fracking, a procedure that injects a mix of chemicals at high pressure into rock formations to create fractures that release a reservoir of oil and gas. He would also close a potential loophole with a prohibition on a cleanup procedure for wells called matrix acidization.

It uses a large volume of some of the same chemicals as fracking as a wash in the cleanup and maintenance of wells. The mix of acids dissolves carbonate minerals including limestone and other debris.

Industry experts say it has been used for decades to clean out or restore wells without any damage to the environment. But environmentalists counter the mix dissolves rock and therefore is a form of fracking and poses a risk in Florida, which has a high-water table that provides a conduit to the aquifer.

“It’s the best shot we have in terms of protecting Florida,” said Montford, who cited clean water for “our children and grandchildren” as part of his closing statement of support for the bill.

Merrilee Malwitz-Jipson applauded the proposal. The Fort White resident has been traveling to Tallahassee for five years to lobby lawmakers to ban fracking. She told the panel the experience has taught her that the state Capitol is filled with backward thinkers when it comes to environmental protection.

“The laws, rules and regulations are written for harm, not for protection," said Malwitz-Jipson, who represented the group Our Santa Fe River.

Watch it: Anti-Fracking Protest Protestors gather at the Capitol for a rally against fracking in Florida

“They are not written to stop something from happening but actually how something can be mitigated. How much something can be minimized, how much something can be harmed before it is irreparable,” said Malwitz-Jipson.

SB 200, concluded Malwitz-Jipson, tries to prevent damage before it occurs.

Montford weaved together input from fracking opponents and industry experts into a compromise proposal.

“Everybody is not satisfied. Some want it to do more, some less. (But) Florida is the last state that should even consider fracking,” said Montford.

Last session, Montford proposed a bill that would have declared fracking as a threat to the state’s drinking water supply. And although Gov. Ron DeSantis had announced his opposition to fracking, leaders in the Republican-dominated Legislature didn’t advance the measure.

For the upcoming session though, a fracking ban emerged from its first committee with a 5-0 vote. Montford must now get SB 200 through two more committees before the full Senate can debate whether it's a good idea to prohibit fracking in Florida as a way to drill for oil and gas. The 2020 session begins January 14.

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Writer James Call can be contacted at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee