Battle to Keep Florida Frack-Free Heats Up

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The battle to keep Florida frack-free is intensifying ahead of the 2016 state legislativeย session.

Fracking became an issue last year after Floridaโ€™s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) revealedย that theย Dan A. Hughes Co. had fracked the Collier-Hogan well in Naples, despite regulators telling it not to until the agency had a chance to thoroughly review the companyโ€™sย plans.

Shortly after the news broke, the move to ban fracking in Floridaย began.

Democratic State Senators Dwight Bullard and Darren Soto filed Senate Bill 166 that called for a statewide ban on fracking. Their bill failed, but was reintroduced this year.

In July, Bonita Springs, a city near Naples, passed a ban onย all types of well-stimulation techniques, including fracking.ย Nearby Estero is considering a ban asย well.

In a move that would void existing bans, companion legislationย sponsored by Republican State Senator Garrett Richter (SB318) and Republican State Representative Ray Rodrigues (HB 191) calls for statewide regulations for fracking. The bills, if passed, would preempt all local ordinances governing the oil and gasย industry.


Collier County legislative delegation on October 15 in Naples. ยฉ2015 Julie Dermanskyย ย 

On October 15, the public had an opportunity to address a Collier County legislative delegation on the bills meant to govern the fracking industry.ย Senators Bullard and Richter were part of the delegation present at the Naples meeting.ย 

Anti-fracking activists stated that nothing short of a fracking ban would protect their families from the harmย the industry can cause, pointing to other states where documented incidents of negative impacts caused by fracking are stackingย up.ย 

Objections were made to the preemption of local ordinances governing oil and gas that would void Bonitaโ€™s ban and prevent other municipalities from initiating their ownย ban.

Richter said he is โ€œnot pro or anti fracking.โ€ But he warned if the proposed statewide fracking ban fails to pass, Florida would be left with no regulations to govern fracking. Currently, no state agency has the legal authority to regulateย fracking.

He doesnโ€™t believe a statewide ban has any chance of passing, and insists the companion bills are the stateโ€™s best option to protect Florida. Not only would hisย legislation offer the firstย statewide regulations governing fracking, it would also ban fracking until the state conducts its ownย study.


John Dwyer at a press conference, during a break at the meeting. ยฉ2015 Julieย Dermansky

Naples anti-fracking activist John Dwyer disputed Richterโ€™s claim that โ€œpassing something is better thanย nothing.โ€

SB 318 is โ€œsomething that is far worse than nothing,โ€ Dwyer told the panel. โ€œIt hobbles local governments so that they cannot defend their citizens against the dangers of the oil industry: the traffic, the noise, the pollution, the damage to natural resources, theย healthย risks.โ€

VIDEO: Senator Bullard on Bill 166 That Calls For A Ban on Fracking inย Florida

In a state where Governor Rick Scott prohibits state employees from using the term โ€œclimate change,โ€ Senator Bullard told DeSmog during an interview after theย meeting,

โ€œThe devilโ€™s in the details. The billsโ€™ preemption of all local rules pertaining to the oil and gas industry will make it impossible for local governments to object to anything the oil and gas industry does in a meaningfulย way.โ€

According toย Bullard,ย the Richter and Rodrigues bills are full of loopholes that leave Floridaโ€™s water supply vulnerable. Though they claim that the bills will force the industry to reveal all of the chemicals injected into the ground, it reallyย isnโ€™tย so.

In fact, the industry will only have to disclose the chemicalsย that fracfocus.org, a registry managed in part by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, requires.ย Fracfocus.orgย allows the industry to keep a portion of the chemicals it utilizes secretย dueย to proprietaryย concerns.ย 

VIDEO: Jennifer Hecker On Well Stimulation Treatments inย Florida

Jennifer Hecker, director of natural resource policy for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, also finds Richter’s and Rodrigues’ companion bills plagued withย problems. They only address fracking, offering no regulation of other forms ofย well stimulationย techniques.

A document (PDF) the Conservancy prepared for legislators explains how HB 191 and SB 318ย fail:ย 

oย This legislation only addresses those techniques which fracture rock, excludingย dissolving techniques and operations which โ€œincidentally fracture theย formation.โ€

o We know operations are completed in Florida using chemical mixtures to dissolve rock as well as fracture it. In order to address risks associated with this chemical use, dissolving and fracturing operations must beย captured.

o The definition of well stimulation introduces a loophole by exempting operations that โ€œincidentally fracture.โ€ It is unlikely an operator would unintentionally fracture rock as this requires a great deal of fluid and high pressure. Even if this did occur, it would likely go unnoticed as fracturing occurs out of view thousands of feet belowย ground.

o While a draft hydraulic fracturing study has been prepared by EPA, the study does not include examples of well stimulation in Florida. Consequently, a Florida specific study is needed to evaluate the risks of unconventionalย extraction.ย 

The Conservancy played a key role in uncovering what happened at theย Hogan-Collier well, where Floridaโ€™s first publicly disclosed frack job tookย place.ย 

While reviewing documents released by the DEP, Hecker learned that once a company has a permit to drill a well conventionally, all it has to do to use other well-stimulation treatments, including hydraulic fracturing, acid fracturing, and matrix acidizing, is to submit a workover notice to the state. And if the workoverย is marked โ€œtrade secret,โ€ the public wonโ€™t know aboutย it.


Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, near the Collier-Hogan well, is home to the last remaining old growth cypress trees in the world. ยฉ2015 Julieย Dermanskyย 

The documents show that Hughes stimulated the Hogan-Collier well with matrix acidizing, before it informed the DEP that it intended to workover the well again by fracking it.ย The records reveal that the DEP was not concerned about the matrix acidizing, only the facking, but itย concernsย Hecker.

Matrix acidizingย uses many ofย the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, though it is not considered fracking. The chemicals are injected into the well with less pressure than required for fracking to dissolve rock (limestone in Floridaโ€™s case) to increase the flow ofย oil.

โ€œMatrix acidizing is more likely to be utilized than fracking in Florida,โ€ Hecker said, and legislators she spoke to told her โ€œthe process is thought to be fairly commonly used inย Florida.โ€ย 

The discovery that workover treatments can be kept confidential wasย alarming.

Hecker pointed out there is no way for the public to know how many wells have been worked over with well-stimulationย treatments.

โ€œThe Conservancy isnโ€™t pushing for a fracking ban,โ€ she said, but it does not support the regulatory bills as they currentlyย stand.ย 

VIDEO: Senator Richter and Pamela Duran Talking About Frackingย 

Pamela Duran, a Naples resident who lives 1,000 feet from a site where Hughes had planned to drill before the state revoked the companyโ€™s drilling permit, approached Richter during a break in the session. She askedย himย if he believed fracking is safe. โ€œYes,โ€ Richter said, explaining that his conclusion is based onย findings of Floridaโ€™s DEP and the EPAโ€™s recentย study.ย 

LIke other pro-industry supporters, Richterโ€™s takeaway from the EPAโ€™s preliminary report on fracking’s potential impact on drinking water resources ย was that the fracking doesnโ€™t damage the water supply. โ€œFracking can be accomplished without any material harm to our water supply,โ€ he said, โ€œThat study would refute that it damages our waterย supply.โ€

He admitted to not reading the entire report, so it is unclear if he realizes the report determined thatย theย fracking industry was responsible for contamination of some drinking waterย supplies.ย 

In an interview with DeSmog, Richter dismissed the concerns of those citizens speaking out against his bill as โ€œemotional,โ€ and denied that the bill would makeย theย Bonita Springs fracking banย illegal.

โ€œBonitaโ€™s ban is more of a public statement than it is an actual ban,โ€ Richter said. โ€No one is going to go into Bonita Springs and go for oil. Letโ€™s call a duck aย duck.โ€

โ€œIf our fracking ban is symbolic, why is Richter pursuing a bill to overturn it?โ€ Ben Nelson, the mayor of Bonita Springs, asked DeSmog. His citizens donโ€™t want their city to be transformed into an industrial zone. The cityโ€™s ban on allย well stimulation techniques,ย including fracking, was put in place to make sure that doesnโ€™t happen. Nelson objects to any bill that strips localย municipalities of their right to govern landย use.

Senator Bullard also objectsย toย such moves. His district currently includes part of Collier County, the county where new well stimulation activities are most likely toย occur.ย 

Efforts to redistrict the counties Bullard represents are already in the works. However, Bullard plans to continue fighting for a fracking ban even if new redistricting rules take Collier County away fromย him.

โ€œAquifers donโ€™t follow redistricting rules,โ€ heย said.

VIDEO: Antifracking Activist, Dr. Karen Dwyer at a press conference inย Naples


Beach in Bonita Springs. ยฉ2015 Julieย Dermansky

Attachment: The Conservency of Southwest Floridaโ€™s Legislator Handoutย 2016ย 

Julie-Dermansky-022
Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers Universityโ€™s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

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