Stymied over the past three years, a coalition of environmental and business groups issued a letter calling on Florida lawmakers to ban the controversial practice of fracking, with more than 100 city and county elected officials signing on.
“Fracking and the associated chemicals pose unacceptable risks to Florida families, tourists, our water supply, and economy,” according to the letter, prepared by the coalition called Floridians Against Fracking.
Fracking is a general term for various ways that oil companies can pump chemicals into a well to either dissolve or break up underground rock formations to stimulate oil and gas production. The process took off in several states in the U.S. in the late 1990’s.
A fracking ban has been unsuccessful in three past legislative sessions in Florida.
At the same time, a total of 90 counties and cities in Florida have passed ordinances or resolutions either banning the controversial practice, supporting a statewide ban, or opposing pro-fracking legislation, according to the group.
“The Florida Legislature has delayed far too long in passing a statewide fracking ban. Thousands of Floridians, business owners, local elected officials, and the candidates to be Florida’s next governor all agree, we need to ban fracking in Florida,” said Michelle Allen, senior organizer with the Food & Water Watch organization.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
Related News
