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A Texas gas drilling rig By Loadmaster (David R. Tribble) |
HB 191 - Regulation of Oil and Gas by Rep. Ray Rodrigues, will be heard in the House Agriculture and
Natural Resources Subcommittee next Tuesday, November 3 at noon. Please contact the members of the committee
to urge them to vote NO on this bill. Also,
contact your personal Representative
and Senator and urge them to stop the bills permitting fracking. Committee
member contact information is below.
There are currently six fracking bills filed this year. A brief explanation of each is included at
the bottom of this alert. Please take a
minute to go through it so you’ll know which are good, which are bad, and which
legislators are behind them. (The
sponsor of the bad bill HB 191 - the subject of this alert, is Rep. Rodrigues (with
an ‘s’) who could easily be confused with Rep.Javier Rodriguez (with a ‘z’) the
sponsor of a good Constitutional amendment to ban fracking, e.g.)
House Agriculture and Natural Resources
Subcommittee 2016
Rep. Tom Goodson, Chair 850-717-5050 tom.goodson@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jake Raburn, V
Chair 850-717-5057 jake.raburn@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jim Boyd 850-717-5071 jim.boyd@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Neil Combee 850-717-5039 neil.combee@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Brad Drake 850-717-5005 brad.drake@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Bobby DuBose 850-717-5094 bobby.dubose@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Katie Edwards 850-717-5098 katie.edwards@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Larry Lee 850-717-5084 larry.lee@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Ray Pilon 850-717-5072 ray.pilon@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jimmie Smith 850-717-5034 jimmie.smith@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Cyndi Stevenson 850-717-5017 cyndi.stevenson@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jennifer Sullivan 850-717-5031 jennifer.sullivan@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Clovis Watson 850-717-5020 clovis.watson@myfloridahouse.gov
Emails to copy and paste:
jim.boyd@myfloridahouse.gov,
neil.combee@myfloridahouse.gov, brad.drake@myfloridahouse.gov, bobby.dubose@myfloridahouse.gov,
katie.edwards@myfloridahouse.gov, tom.goodson@myfloridahouse.gov, larry.lee@myfloridahouse.gov,
ray.pilon@myfloridahouse.gov, jake.raburn@myfloridahouse.gov, jimmie.smith@myfloridahouse.gov,
cyndi.stevenson@myfloridahouse.gov, jennifer.sullivan@myfloridahouse.gov, clovis.watson@myfloridahouse.gov,
Find your legislators here: http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/myrepresentative.aspx
Talking Points
Fracking imposes unnecessary and unacceptable risks on the residents
of Florida. The tremendous use of water
that is forever lost due to contamination, the risk of contaminating our aquifers,
and the continuing contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere
posed by fracking and burning natural gas is unconscionable when energy efficiency
and renewable energy offer a clean and safe alternative.
HB 191:
- Completely preempts anything to do with oil or gas to the state, including: exploration, development, production, processing, storage, or transportation. The preemption would apply to existing ordinances as well as prohibiting the adoption of new ones.
- Uses a definition for “high-pressure well stimulation” that exempts the fracking activities most likely to be used in Florida from any regulation because those techniques, acid fracturing and acid matrix stimulation, are performed at lower pressure and are thereby excluded from the definition in the bill. These are the techniques most often used in limestone and dolomite geological areas like Florida
- Exposes municipalities to all oil and gas exploration and production activities inside city limits, (not just fracking) regardless of local government’s wishes by eliminating a provision in current law that permits can only be issued if the governing body of the city passes a resolution in favor of the oil/gas activity,
- Provides that permits will be issued as soon as rulemaking is complete regardless of what a study required by the bill may reveal,
- Designates FracFocus as the official chemical disclosure registry while preventing citizens from knowing what is being injected into the ground beneath their feet by use of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
Backers of the bill tout it as
being a moratorium (a delay before fracking permits are issued.) Permits won’t be issued right away, but they
will be issued as soon as the rulemaking process is complete. And all of the
other bad policy in the bill will be effective immediately. The preemption, the
vulnerability of cities that oil/gas operators may want to drill in, and of
course, the definition of “high-pressure well stimulation” that excludes the
most likely methods of fracking for Florida from new regulation will all take
effect on Day One. No new regulations or
permitting will be put in place for acid fracturing or acid matrix stimulation
and the potential for contamination will occur regardless of whether or not “high-pressure
well stimulations” permits are being issued.
The broad preemption language will prevent localities from doing anything about it, and the Trade Secrets
provision will prevent residents from finding out what toxic chemicals they may
be exposed to.
The bill calls for a study, but
only of “high-pressure well stimulation.”
And there is no provision for delay or a change in direction if the
study turns up a threat to public health - fracking permits get issued when rulemaking
is complete.
Water Use:
- Fracking a multi-stage well can use more than a million gallons of fresh water. https://fracfocus.org/water-protection/hydraulic-fracturing-usage
- Some wells have used as much as 13 million gallons! http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/hf-report20121214.pdf Section 2.1.1
- Flowback from fracking contains materials that must not be allowed to contaminate groundwater. https://fracfocus.org/hydraulic-fracturing-how-it-works/drilling-risks-safeguards
Contaminants:
- Oil and gas service companies used hydraulic fracturing products containing 29 chemicals that are (1) known or possible human carcinogens, (2) regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act for their risks to human health, or (3) listed as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. These 29 chemicals were components of 652 different products used hydraulic fracturing. Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Commerce and Energy, Minority Staff Report, 2011
- Flowback from fracking wells can contain radioactive materials from deep under the earth. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3915249/
- The National Academy of Sciences discovered that homes within 1 kilometer (2/3 mile) were six times more likely to have six times more methane in their drinking water than those farther away. Ethane levels were 23 times higher
Trade
Secrets:
- HB 191 lets well operators claim the chemicals they use are “trade secrets” which means residents, first responders, and medical personnel cannot find out what they are dealing with. All that is necessary to claim “trade secret” protection is to say the secret is valuable to the well operator and that the well operator is trying to keep it a secret. 688.002 (4) Florida StatutesHealth Impacts:
The New York State Department of Health report states under
‘Health outcomes near HVHF (high volume hydraulic fracturing)Activity:
- One peer-reviewed study and one university report have presented data indicating statistical associations between some birth outcomes (low birth weight and some congenital defects) and residential proximity of the mother to well pads during pregnancy (Hill, 2012; McKenzie, 2014). Proximity to higher-density HVHF well pad development was associated with increased incidence of congenital heart defects and neural-tube defects in one of the studies (McKenzie, 2014).
Fracking legislation filed for 2016 session:
Good Anti-fracking
bills:
There
are two bills to ban fracking by statute:
SB
0166 Oil and Natural Gas Production or Recovery by Sen. Soto has been referred to
Environmental Preservation and Conservation; Commerce and Tourism; Community
Affairs; Fiscal Policy
HB
0019 Well Stimulation Treatments by Rep. Jenne has been referred to
Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee; Energy and Utilities
Subcommittee; Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee;
State Affairs Committee
There are also two good Joint Resolutions to place a
constitutional amendment on the ballot to ban fracking in the state:
SJR
0358 Hydraulic Fracturing by
Sen. Ring has been referred to Environmental Preservation and Conservation;
Judiciary; Rules.
A similar Joint Resolution has been filed by Rep. Javier
Rodriguez (with a ‘z’) -
HJR 0453 Well
Stimulation by Rep. Rodriguez (with a ‘z’) but has not yet been referred
to committees.
The legislature can place proposed amendments to the state
constitution without getting any petitions signed. The only requirement is that the Resolution
proposing the amendment get a 3/5ths vote in each chamber. (It would also need the approval of 60% of
the voters to be adopted.)
Bad Pro-fracking bills:
HB
0191 Regulation of Oil and Gas Resources by Rep. Rodrigues (with an ‘s’)
has been referred to to Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee;
Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee; State Affairs
Committee. (It is the bill up in
Agriculture and Natural Resources on Tuesday, November 3.)
SB
0318 Regulation of Oil and Gas Resources by Sen. Richter has been
referred to Environmental Preservation and Conservation; Appropriations
Subcommittee on General Government; Appropriations.
This year the pro-fracking sponsors have not filed separate ‘trade
secrets’ bills and are relying on the process already in statute in Chapter 688
to protect them from having to disclose what toxic chemicals they are injecting
into the ground.