Wednesday, January 21, 2015

County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava to propose resolution supporting a ban on fracking in Florida … by gimleteye

What a breath of fresh air to have a county commissioner like Daniella Levine Cava, who has proposed the county commission pass a resolution to encourage the state legislature to ban fracking in Florida.

Without pressure from local governments, state legislators are likely to pay attention only to what the fossil fuel industry lobbyists are promoting in Tallahassee.

It's their deep pockets and promises against our quality of life, health and property rights.

Fracking into Florida's porous underlying geology is utter, complete madness. The toxic flood of hydraulically injected fluids, to extract oil and gas, has created many problems -- unfixable ones -- in other parts of the nation with geology much, much more "hardened" than ours.

In Florida, most of the layers of earth beneath our feet are no denser than the sand on our beaches. Florida is the number one sinkhole state in the nation for exactly that reason. What are the chances that fracking fluid (the composition of which, by the way, the industry has successfully prevented from public disclosure because they deem it to be a "trade secret") will not contaminate our drinking water supply? Zero.

Zero, as in zero.

We have big enough problems with state-sponsored aquifer exploitation through aquifer storage and recovery wells and underground injection control wells. It's an issue the media covers rarely if ever.

The evidence is protected behind massive state agencies, blocking disclosure wherever they can. I know, because in the early oughts, I spent more than two years trying to penetrate the state veils of secrecy around Underground Injection Control wells. Those wells are how most of the wastewater in Florida is ultimately disposed. After treatment, billions of gallons of wastewater is injected into so many deep wells that represented on a map, the state of Florida would look like a piece of Swiss cheese.

Although the impacts of deep injection wells, like those used for fracking, are known as essential engineering infrastructure to keep nearly 20 million Floridians in place, very few people understand how, more than a decade ago, a Bush appointed 3rd District Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected a Miami Sierra Club Clean Water Lawsuit against the relaxation of safe drinking water standards that led, directly, to the proliferation of tracking and BILLIONS in profits to corporations and political insiders facilitating the oil and gas industries.

At Wednesday's Board of County Commissioners meeting, elected officials have a chance to get common sense on the record. Call your county commissioner in the morning and tell him or her to support the resolution proposed by Commissioner Levine Cava.


TITLE
RESOLUTION URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO ENACT SB 166 OR SIMILAR LEGISLATION PROHIBITING HYDRAULIC FRACTURING IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA


BODY
WHEREAS, hydraulic fracturing is the process of pumping a fluid into or under the surface of the ground in order to create factures in existing rock for the purpose of producing or recovering oil or gas; and
WHEREAS, Florida’s water supply comes from highly permeable limestone formations which are vulnerable to contamination from hydraulic rock-fracturing activities designed to extract hydrocarbons; and
WHEREAS, Miami-Dade gets all of its water from groundwater sources, including the Floridan Aquifer; and
WHEREAS, Florida’s oil and gas regulations, Chapter 377, Florida Statutes, and Rules 62C-25 through 30, Florida Administrative Code, make no reference to hydraulic fracturing; and
WHEREAS, in January 2014, an oil drilling company in Collier County was discovered to be using high-pressure injections of acid and water to blast open bedrock to gain access to oil reserves near underground aquifers; and
WHEREAS, in July 2014, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection revoked the drilling permits of the oil drilling company and fined the company $25,000; and
WHEREAS, hydraulic fracturing poses potential risks for contaminating the Floridan Aquifer, the source of drinking water for nearly 10 million Floridians; and
WHEREAS, this Board believes it is imperative to take measures to adequately protect our State and County’s water supply and environment through better regulation of oil drilling methods and extraction techniques; and
WHEREAS, voters in Florida overwhelmingly approved Florida Constitutional Amendment 1, the Florida Water and Land Conservation Initiative, which is designed to protect Florida’s natural resources, including the state’s drinking water; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill (SB) 166 would prohibit hydraulic fracturing in the State of Florida, and has been filed for consideration during the 2015 session of the Florida Legislature by Senators Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee) and Dwight Bullard (D-Cutler Bay); and
WHEREAS, this Board would like to express its support for SB 166 or similar legislation prohibiting hydraulic fracturing in the State of Florida,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, that this Board:
Section 1. Urges the Florida Legislature to enact SB 166 or similar legislation prohibiting hydraulic fracturing in the State of Florida.
Section 2. Directs the Clerk of the Board to transmit a certified copy of this resolution to the Governor, Senate President, House Speaker, State Senator Darren Soto, State Senator Dwight Bullard, and the Chair and remaining Members of the Miami-Dade State Legislative Delegation.
Section 3. Directs the County’s state lobbyists to advocate for the passage of the legislation set forth in Section 1 above, and authorizes and directs the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to amend the 2015 State Legislative Package to include this item.

5 comments:

Jswcat said...

Just a reminder to change the blog post title from tracking to fracking. I read your column daily and I am for this proposal in so many ways.

Anonymous said...

Good for Daniela... I hope it passes immediately.

Anonymous said...

Thank You Daniella.

Anonymous said...

Excellent Daniella! That any drilling company would even consider this practice in FL with our countless fresh water springs, the Everglades, and on and on, shows just how morally derelict this oil industry is. Where will we drink water should the whole interconnected system under us start to smell like acid and hydrocarbons? Maybe we could drink from the cooling canals at Turkey Point and turn into glowing pilars of salt and Tritium. What a mess we get when the foxes make the rules for the henhouse. May the FL legislature listen to reason on this one issue. After all many of the fresh water springs are in the north half of the state and they out of Tally seem to care more for that area than the dangling tip of the appendage.

Anonymous said...

Thank you God for Daniella.....gracing our earth with Jesus sister was so important and God thank you for this blog, that you created to praise Daniella and all the great work she is doing.

Her great reso on Fracking will go no where.....but it is great that she did it. Thank you Daniella......Thank you.......for the water we drink and the air that we breath.

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH