Florida Bill Bans Local Control Of Fracking; Blocks Disclosure Of Chemicals Used In Process
This week, the Florida House approved a bill that would allow fracking to take place throughout the state as early as 2017, following an inquiry into the environmental and health impacts of the practice. The bill does not require fracking companies to disclose the chemicals or potential carcinogens used in the process, however, and includes a ban on local communities banning the practice entirely.
Florida legislators also struck down attempts by Democratic lawmakers to alter the bill, opposing amendments that would have allowed local governments to regulate fracturing activity, required testing of water used in the process, and analyzed the impact of fracking chemicals on public health. Democratic lawmakers also introduced an amendment that would have required local voters to approve any fracking project before it began. That amendment was also struck down.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the oil and gas industry has been incredibly active in supporting the bill, spending at least $443,000 in contributions to top Republican lawmakers since the last election.
The bill calls for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a $1 million study looking at the potential impact of fracking on the state’s geology and water supply. The study will also look at the impact of fracking on human health, something that lawmakers argued made an amendment requiring such studies redundant.
EDIT
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/01/29/3744324/florida-fracking-bill-and-ban/
= new reply since forum marked as read
... and what the geology of such a low-lying & already sodden land *really* needs
is a series of explosions & man-made earth tremors ...
