Fracking is a controversial practice, but except for in a small swath of southwest Florida where the practice has been illegally underway, we don't have any idea how it would affect the landscape or environmental factors we take for granted — such as our naturally occurring underground water supply.
And for the past several years, lawmakers have sought to legalize fracking using the argument that then the practice would be regulated, as it currently isn't in places like Collier County.
On Saturday, environmental activists are planning to use a visual aid to help the public see why the practice could be dangerous to Floridians. They're planning on setting up a mock fracking rig on Clearwater Beach's Pier 60 to show what the practice actually entails, and the threats legalizing it will pose on Florida's environment.
Their hope?
To create enough pressure on lawmakers that they'll pass an all-out fracking ban, something that even former proponents of opening up the state to it and "regulating" it have expressed an openness to in recent months.
According to a release sent out by Food and Water Watch, State Rep. Mike Miller, R-Orlando, has agreed to work with environmentalists to draft a bill banning the practice. Other Republican legislators have also said they'd support a ban, including incoming State Sen. Dana Young, R-Tampa, who had previously supported a bill that could have ultimately opened Florida up to fracking. She recently said she would propose a statewide ban in the State Senate.
Saturday's event, set to take place at 11 a.m., is part of a statewide "week of action" aimed at showing the dangers of fracking as well as those of fossil fuels in general.
The Food and Water Watch release sent out earlier this week noted how, even if there's no possibility for fracking in places like Pinellas County, disasters like 2010's Deepwater Horizon oil gusher show that environmental hazards in any part of the state can hurt the economy as a whole.
"In many Gulf Coast cities in the state, oil did not wash ashore from the BP spill, however the mass perception of oil polluting beaches was enough to deter tourists, hurting the many tourism centered businesses along the shore," the media release read.
Find out more about the week of action here.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2016.