James Call

Democrat Capitol Reporter

Fracking legislation appears dead for this session.

A bill regulating the practice died Tuesday in a Florida Senate committee when the sponsor pulled it from consideration. The Appropriations committee had voted down the bill Thursday but a procedural move allowed for a hearing to reconsider it. Dozens of opponents were in the committee room, like zombie hunters waiting to spring into action if Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, attempted to resurrect the proposal.

“This is a controversial subject. The controversy will continue. And I dare say will draw even more concern when oil supplies drop and prices go up, which they will,” said Richter, addressing a standing-room only crowd in the committee room. “I can pretty much assure that demand will not go away. Having said that Senate bill 318 is going away and I move that you not reconsider this bill.”

The measure would have directed the Department of Environmental Protection to set up a regulatory scheme for inshore oil and gas drilling, provide $1 million to study the impact of fracking on Florida’s aquifer and unique limestone bedrock which geologists have described as a sponge-like rock, and pre-empt local government ordinances banning the practice.

To underscore Richter’s comment about fracking generating controversy, while lobbyists and citizens waited to see whether the Appropriations Committee would bring the bill up, the Brevard County Commission passed a resolution opposing SB 318 and another measure directing staff to write a fracking ban for the commission to consider.

Thirty-two counties and 48 Florida cities have passed either a resolution opposing fracking or an ordinance banning it. Fracking is a process where a highly-pressurized solution of chemicals and water are used to fracture and dissolve rock to collect natural gas locked more than a mile below the ground.

The Florida aquifer, where most residents get their drinking water, is about 500 feet below the ground. Opponents say Richter’s bill failed to protect the aquifer, provide enough money to do an adequate study and require the disclosure of chemicals used. They also oppose its prohibition on local governments banning the practice.

David Kearns traveled from Palm Bay to argue for local control of the industry.

“The bill also preempts my subsurface rights. If they snake a pipe underneath my house how do I know what chemicals they are using?” asked Kearns. “They will take away my right to deal with that issue through my local officials and have me come here to Tallahassee and deal with some faceless bureaucrat at DEP.”

Tallahassee resident Ken Hays camped out in the front row of the committee room for more than three and a half hours to speak against the bill. Taking a break to stretch his legs in a hallway outside the committee room he pulled wrappers from two protein bars from his pocket.

“This was lunch,” Hays said, adding that dinner would better. He wanted to tell lawmakers that fracking is too dangerous in Florida, where the subsurface is porous and the water table is close to the surface.

“I haven’t met a pipe yet that hasn’t failed if given time, said Hays. "It might take a year. It might take five, 10 maybe 20 years but it’s going to rust and it’s going to fail and then with all the chemical they use we’re going to have a mess.”

Richter acknowledged the passion fracking generates among his opponents and said he respected their activism. He also has said some of their comments indicated they were misinformed. He lashed out at one of his critics, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, accusing a spokeswoman of being disingenuous. He said the Conservancy had requested many changes in the proposal and those changes were made.

“Jennifer Hecker testified in front of this committee that she was still completely opposed after she received everything that she wanted,” said Richter.

Hecker said Richter misrepresented her conversations with lawmakers and that the Conservancy always worked in good faith with legislators.

“That was not factually accurate. We have all the documents to substantiate that,” said Hecker. “We met with him from the get-go and he stopped communicating with us last year when it became clear he was carrying a bill that only the oil industry was supporting and was not what the community had wanted and asked him to support.”

Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, had tried to forge a compromise by offering amendments addressing environmentalists’ concerns. Tuesday he said he is not giving up on the issue. Hecker added that the Conservancy will be back next year to seek a total suspension on fracking in Florida until there is scientific evidence it does not pose a health threat.

Reporter James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee.

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