A fracking bill
that will allow well operators to hide the chemicals they use from the public
will be heard in the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Tuesday
morning at 8 a.m. Please call the
Committee members below to urge them to vote NO on the bill. Phone calls are better than a mass
email. Please take a few minutes to
reach out to them.
This is the link
to the bill:
CS/HB 1209 - Pub. Rec./High-pressure Well Stimulation Chemical Disclosure Registry by Rep. Ray Rodrigues.
CS/HB 1209 - Pub. Rec./High-pressure Well Stimulation Chemical Disclosure Registry by Rep. Ray Rodrigues.
Talking points:
- If this bill becomes law, Floridians will not be able to find out about the worst chemicals frackers inject through their aquifer because they’ll be kept secret.
- There is no federal protection available under the Clean Water Act (which deals with surface waters) or the Safe Drinking Water Act which was amended to exclude fracking from its definition of “underground injection” in the 2005 Energy Policy Act thanks to VP Cheney’s Energy Task Force (§ 300h(d)(1)(B)(ii))
- HB 1209 disguises its true intention by claiming to be about preventing one business from stealing “proprietary business information” (trade secrets) from another. In reality it is designed to gut the disclosure provisions of the bill it is linked to, HB 1205 titled Regulation of Oil and Gas Resources, also by Rep. Rodrigues.
- The bill does an end run around the public interest by misappropriating the rationale for trade secrets for its true purpose of avoiding public scrutiny
- HB 1209 is similar to the relevant parts of an ALEC model bill that can be seen here: http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/the-disclosure-of-hydraulic-fracturing-fluid-composition-act/ The ALEC bill includes the disclosure and trade secrets language in one bill, but the Florida version requires two bills because of Florida’s Constitutional requirement that public records exemptions be in a stand-alone bill.
Here’s why the oil and gas industry wants
“proprietary business information” (trade secrets) confidential. Well operators
can mark the most toxic chemicals as proprietary and DEP is bound to keep them
secret. If someone requests the
information DEP has to tell the well operator of the request and they get ten
days to go to court to get an order barring disclosure of the information. The
judge has to follow what is in statute in making a determination whether it
truly is “proprietary business information” or not. The outcome is a foregone conclusion because the
bill defines it in statute and the judge will always have to issue an order
banning disclosure:
53 (b) Proprietary business information relating
to high-
54 pressure well
stimulations held by the department in connection
55 with the online high-pressure well stimulation chemical
56 disclosure registry, are confidential and exempt from s.
57 119.07(1) and s.
24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution if the
58 person submitting such information to the department:
59 1. Requests that the proprietary business
information be
60 kept confidential
and exempt.
61 2. Informs the department of the basis
for claiming that
62 the information
is proprietary business information.
63 3. Clearly marks each page of a
document or specific
64 portion of a
document containing information claimed to be
65 proprietary
business information as "proprietary business
66
information."
As long as a well operator follows those
simple instructions, no member of the public will ever find out what is being
injected into their drinking water supply.
And if they don’t know about it they can’t try to do anything about it.
Please call these members' offices
today. Be polite, but make sure they
know this is just plain wrong.
Thank you for Acting!
House Government Operations Subcommittee
2015
Rep. Michael Bileca, Chair 850-717-5115 michael.bileca@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. David Santiago, V.
Chair 850-717-5027 david.santiago@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jason Brodeur 850-717-5028 jason.brodeur@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. John Cortes 850-717-5043 john.cortes@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jay Fant 850-717-5015 jay.fant@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Blaise Ingoglia 850-717-5035 blaise.ingoglia@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Edwin Narain 850-717-5061 edwin.narain@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Marlene O'Toole 850-717-5033 marlene.otoole@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Kevin Rader 850-717-5081 kevin.rader@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Ken Roberson 850-717-5075 ken.roberson@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jimmie Smith 850-717-5034 jimmie.smith@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Dwayne Taylor 850-717-5026 dwayne.taylor@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Ritch Workman 850-717-5052 ritch.workman@myfloridahouse.gov
michael.bileca@myfloridahouse.gov, david.santiago@myfloridahouse.gov,
jason.brodeur@myfloridahouse.gov, john.cortes@myfloridahouse.gov, jay.fant@myfloridahouse.gov,
blaise.ingoglia@myfloridahouse.gov, edwin.narain@myfloridahouse.gov, marlene.otoole@myfloridahouse.gov,
kevin.rader@myfloridahouse.gov, ken.roberson@myfloridahouse.gov, jimmie.smith@myfloridahouse.gov,
dwayne.taylor@myfloridahouse.gov , ritch.workman@myfloridahouse.gov
