Senate Fracking bill in committee TODAY - Call this morning!

The fracking bill by Sen. Richter, SB 318, will be heard in the Senate General Government Appropriations Subcommittee on Monday at 4 pm.  We can STOP this bill here.  Call the members of the committee and tell them to vote NO on SB 318.  They need to know how important this issue is to YOU, their constituents.  (Calls are more effective than emails.)  This is an election year and we are tracking every recorded vote on these bills.

Forward this email to everyone you know in their areas. 

Name	Area represented	Capitol phone	email
Sen. Alan Hays, Chair	parts of Lake, Marion, Orange, Sumter counties	850-487-5011	hays.alan.web@flsenate.gov
Sen. Oscar Braynon, V. Ch.	parts of Broward, Miami-Dade counties	850-487-5036	braynon.oscar.web@flsenate.gov
Sen. Thad Altman	parts of Brevard, Indian River counties	850-487-5016	altman.thad.web@flsenate.gov
Sen. Charlie Dean	Baker, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee, Union counties and part of Marion county	850-487-5005	dean.charlie.web@flsenate.gov
Sen. Tom Lee	part of Hillsborough county	850-487-5024	lee.tom.web@flsenate.gov
Sen. Gwen Margolis	part of Miami-Dade county	850-487-5035	margolis.gwen.web@flsenate.gov
Sen . Wilton Simpson	Hernando county and parts of Pasco, Sumter counties	850-487-5018	simpson.wilton.web@flsenate.gov

hays.alan.web@flsenate.gov, braynon.oscar.web@flsenate.gov, altman.thad.web@flsenate.gov, dean.charlie.web@flsenate.gov, lee.tom.web@flsenate.gov, margolis.gwen.web@flsenate.gov, simpson.wilton.web@flsenate.gov

TALKING POINTS

·         The bill preempts local governments from regulating or banning fracking within their boundaries to protect the health of their citizens.  It prevents them from acting in self-defense

·         SB 318 uses a definition of fracking which it calls “high-pressure well stimulation”  (HPWS) that describes the fracking technique least likely to be used in Florida.  (Florida has a limestone and dolomite geology where lower pressure acidizing techniques are most likely to be used.)  So the bill ‘regulates’, and requires a study of a practice that won’t even be used here. 

·         Acid fracking, which injects many of the same toxic chemicals into the ground, is completely unaffected by the bill.  

·         Everything in the bill is tied to the extremely narrow definition of “high-pressure well stimulation”: the ‘regulations’, the permitting, the weak penalties, the study - everything.  But the preemption is GLOBAL.  It preempts ALL aspects of oil and gas from exploring for it, through producing it, to trucking it down the road, including all of the acidizing treatments that involve injecting toxic chemicals!

·         The bill has been amended to include a moratorium - but it only affects “high -pressure well stimulation, not acidization

·         The bill does not provide for baseline testing of groundwater, or ongoing water quality testing.

·         Fracking uses large volumes of water.  Some wells have used as much as 13 million gallons!  http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/hf-report20121214.pdf 

·         Flowback from fracking contains materials that must not be allowed to contaminate groundwater. https://fracfocus.org/hydraulic-fracturing-how-it-works/drilling-risks-safeguards

• 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
• 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.

·         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).