Senator Dana Young Reintroduces Legislation to Ban Fracking in Florida

Senator Dana Young (R-Tampa) has filed legislation today that will ban fracking in Florida. SB462 bans fracking of all kinds including hydraulic fracking, acid fracking, and matrix-acidizing. Fracking is an oil extraction method that injects chemical-laden waters into oil wells for the purpose of breaking up rock to increase the amount of oil and gas extracted.
Senator Young said, “This is the second year I am introducing legislation to completely ban fracking in Florida. Last year we had tremendous bi-partisan support with 19 co-sponsors. I believe the Senate will support this important ban on fracking and I hope the House of Representatives will also come to the table to protect the environment.”
Representative Kathleen Peters (R-South Pasadena) who is sponsoring the legislation in the House of Representatives said, “Florida cannot afford to lose millions of gallons of water a day to perform the fracking process and we certainly cannot afford the risk fracking poses to our drinking water. Water is a key element to life and we must do everything we can to protect the quality of our water and the health of our citizens.”
Senator Young made a ban on fracking her legislative priority after citing several examples of fracking’s harmful effects on the environment, most notably ground water contamination. Young said, “Our state sits precariously atop fragile limestone formations. Physically fracturing and/or dissolving this geologic formation goes against all common sense. As a 6th generation Floridian and avid outdoorsman, I understand the importance of our environment and I believe we must join together and say ‘no’ to this harmful activity, before irreversible environmental damage is done.”