For a couple of years now, Florida lawmakers have been trying to legalize the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking,' claiming that doing so would simply regulate companies that are going to do it anyway in places like Collier County.
A bill that would have done so (which failed earlier this year) also would have barred cities and counties from passing bans on the practice out of concern for "consistency."
Uh-huh.
So elected officials cities and counties like St. Petersburg and Pinellas, recognizing that a similar bill will probably come up again during the next legislative session, are being proactive. St. Pete City Council voted to take up the issue last month, and the Pinellas County Commission unanimously voted to discuss the issue at its June 9 meeting.
Environmental groups, needless to say, were pleased.
"Thank you very much for considering having a public hearing on this very important issue. If Pinellas County…ban fracking in the county, you'll be joining 50 other counties and municipalities that have been particularly motivated by what's going on at the Florida legislature," said Susan Glickman, Florida director for Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
While the practice, which involves shooting millions of gallons of chemical-infused water deep into the earth's crust to free up oil or natural gas that's stored beneath, may help reduce the need for oil, it does nothing to cut back on our dependence on fossil fuels in general. Pinellas already relies on natural gas for some 62 percent of its energy needs, Glickman said, and if development of of the energy source continues, statewide, that number may jump to 89 percent.
Also, again, the practice involves shattering pieces of the earth's crust, including the massive layer of porous limestone underneath much of the state that naturally supplies much of the state's drinking water.
Critics may point out that Pinellas doesn't have oil or gas, and thus opponents of fracking are just being theatrical.
But not really.
If the state were to legalize the practice, there's no telling where companies that drill would be allowed to store the chemical-laden wastewater that results from it.
"To my knowledge, here in Pinellas we don't have oil, which is good, so we should be safe from fracking," said Michelle Allen, Florida organizer for Food and Water Watch. "However…if we do bring fracking to the state of Florida, every county in the state would be at risk of fracking waste water."
Lauren Jones, president of Environmental Policy Advocates at USF said that 21,000 fracking wastewater spills have dumped over 175 million gallons of wastewater throughout the country so far.
"Fracking cannot be regulated enough to be safe," she said.
Then, there's the whole drinking water supply thing.
"Fracking uses a ton of water, so over three million gallons of water per well that really should be used for other purposes," said Jennifer Rubiello, director of Environment Florida. "The bottom line is that we all share the same aquifer. Certainly here in Pinellas County we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to protect our drinking water, both for our county and our state."
No one spoke against the proposal.
The County Commission unanimously approved putting the discussion of a possible fracking ban on the agenda for its June 9 meeting.
While that vote was unanimous, and the commission consists largely of commissioners who appear likely to support the ban, it is still technically possible that it could get rejected, though not likely.
This article appears in May 19-26, 2016.