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Click here to help our partners at Progress Florida stop a pair of dirty fracking bills in the Florida Legislature. If we let them get to Gov. Rick "don't say climate change" Scott it would be terrible for the Sunshine State's water, air and climate.
Friend,
More fracking could be coming soon to to the Sunshine State, unless we act now to stop it. The Legislature is considering two dirty and dangerous bills that would not only allow fracking, but actually prevent local towns and cities from taking action to protect their water, air and land. But we can stop them now, before it's too late, if you tell your legislators that the best way to protect Florida’s water, air and climate is to ban fracking.
That's why we've teamed up with our reliable allies at Progress Florida. They've got a powerful statewide network and can help us stop this fracking legislation before it goes too far. But we need to back them up this week.
Click here to write your state legislators today and urge them to oppose HB 1205 and HB 1209. Tell them Florida needs to ban fracking altogether.
Here’s what both of these bad bills would do:
- HB 1205 would pave the way for further fracking in Florida by creating a narrow set of regulations. This bill would also ban local governments from trying to either regulate or ban fracking on their own.
- HB 1209 would prevent Floridians from knowing what kind of chemicals are being used in the fracking process by creating a public records exemption.
Fracking is a seriously dirty drilling practice that blasts a slurry of water, sand and toxic chemicals underground to break open tiny pockets of dirty oil and gas.1 In other states, fracking and its waste-disposal have contaminated drinking water, polluted the air and even caused earthquakes.2 And contrary to the industry's claims, some studies show that fracked gas is actually just as bad for the climate as burning coal.3 Allowing this practice in Florida could cause enormous problems for our drinking water, especially since the region's karst geology is more sensitive and fragile that harder shale formations in the northeast.4 Florida's legislators need to understand that without clean water, clean air and a safe environment - nothing else matters.
Write your legislators and tell them to oppose HB 1205 and HB 1209, and to support a statewide ban on fracking instead.
Florida is the Sunshine State and could get 100 percent of its power from clean sources, like wind and solar. But to do it, the legislature must have the courage to set strong renewable energy standards, exceed the goals of the president's clean power plan, and invest in real energy solutions.5 Oil and gas drilling represent a polluted past that we should quickly move away from. Climate change is a clear and present danger to communities from Miami to Pensacola -- and now is the time to take action.
Thanks,
Drew and the Sunshine State support crew at Environmental Action
1 - Food & Water Watch, What is Fracking
2 - Maria Gallucci, Kansas Earthquakes Likely Tied To Rise In Fracking Wastewater, State Geologists Say, International Business Times, January 28 2015
3 - Bill McKibben, Bad News for Obama: Fracking May Be Worse Than Burning Coal, Mother Jones, September 8, 2014
4 - Bruce Ritchie, Bills for fracking regulation filed again after years of opposition, Saint PetersBlog, Mar 6, 2015
5 - Environment America Research & Policy Center, Star Power: The Growing Role of Solar Energy in America, November 20, 2014 |
