Florida Springs News Archive

Dec 18, 2018 - Senator Stewart's legislation, which has been filed for the upcoming legislative session, would not only ban fracking in future wells, but would prohibit the extraction process in wells already permitted for drilling or operation.

Aug 22, 2018 - Stymied over the past three years, a coalition of environmental and business groups issued a letter calling on Florida lawmakers to ban the controversial practice of fracking, with more than 100 city and county elected officials signing on.

Aug 6, 2018 - Organizers told Action News Jax that they wanted to send state leaders a message that the future should be focused on renewable resources.

Aug 17, 2017 - A leadership shuffle in the Florida Senate is lifting the hopes of anti-fracking activists. A statewide ban on the controversial drilling method stalled last session in an environmental spending committee when the Republican chairman refused to hear it.

Jul 13, 2017 - A Trump administration proposal to continue allowing oil companies to dump unlimited amounts of offshore fracking chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico violates federal law and threatens imperiled marine wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity warned this week.

May 30, 2017 - Despite good work by our local delegation, the session was a failure by almost every measure. We give it the benefit of the doubt and award it a grade of D.

May 4, 2017 - Despite what appears to be widespread support for the measure, FPL's fracking proposal, Senate Bill 1238, appears to be dead in this session of Florida's legislature.

Apr 28, 2017 - This is nothing but a massive handout to a powerful monopoly at the expense of consumers who should not have to pay for this. If fracking is that promising, the utility's shareholders should shoulder the financial responsibility.

Apr 26, 2017 - Florida Power & Light's quest to have customers pay for natural gas fracking projects in other states overcame a key hurdle Tuesday as the Senate Rules Committee passed the controversial measure and overlooked opposition from residential and commercial customers.

Apr 20, 2017 - With just over two weeks left in Florida's regular Legislative Session, a group of over 100 members of the business community released a statement Wednesday indicating support for a statewide fracking ban.

Apr 20, 2017 - Ray Kemble, a Vietnam veteran from Pennsylvania, knows firsthand how fracking affects water quality.

Apr 5, 2017 - For the fifth year in a row, Florida legislators who have questions about the procedure are poised to essentially allow it because they've been unable to agree what, if anything, to do about it.

Mar 31, 2017 - TALLAHASSEE - A bill that would ban fracking in Florida is dead this year, with the state House and Senate unwilling to agree on whether a scientific study is needed before considering an all-out prohibition.

Mar 27, 2017 - The Florida House Subcommittee on Energy and Utilities on Tuesday will hear the proposal sought by Florida Power & Light to allow the company to expand its rate base by charging customers for investments in natural gas fracking operations in other states.

Mar 25, 2017 - Banning fracking in Florida is one of the best things we can do to protect our treasured waterways, public health, and economy

Mar 15, 2017 - If two-thirds of Florida's electricity generation is still produced by burning natural gas obtained by fracking, as Mr. Porter claims, then this should be cause for great alarm.

Mar 11, 2017 - The Senate is moving ahead with a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, despite industry threats of a blizzard of lawsuits. But as Jim Ash reports, the House remains a big question mark.

Mar 8, 2017 - TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Senate reversed years of opposition to a statewide ban on oil and gas fracking and advanced a bill Tuesday that will prohibit the controversial practice in Florida.

Mar 7, 2017 - Fracking will be banned in Florida. It's just a matter of when. And this year our state lawmakers have the opportunity to determine if it happens before or after a disaster.

Mar 3, 2017 - Commissioner Miller said her main concern with fracking, is water quality. "Water is an asset just like oil or gas or anything else. So if we contaminate our water, we are going to be economically strangled. "

Dec 30, 2016 - The failure of state leaders to adequately protect our most vital economic resource in the face of a rapidly growing population should not immobilize us. In fact, there is stronger pressure from more Floridians than ever before to advance solutions to the problems.

Dec 14, 2016 - WASHINGTON - Is hydraulic fracturing - better known as fracking ' safe, as the oil and gas industry claims? Or does the controversial drilling technique that has spurred a domestic energy boom contaminate drinking water, as environmental groups and other critics charge?

Nov 2, 2016 - All the easy oil's gone, and modern extraction practices aren't good for Florida anyway. Those were two arguments made by an Ivy League engineer Wednesday in front of a group of about 200 people at the Florida Fracking Summit at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Oct 15, 2016 - Fracking is now banned in Miami-Dade County, thanks to an ordinance passed unanimously last Wednesday by county commissioners.

Oct 3, 2016 - Miami-Dade County has formally proposed banning fracking outright. The commission will debate the measure, which would declare fracking illegal in the county zoning code, at its public meeting this Tuesday.

Jun 28, 2016 - MARIANNA, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Calhoun County could join other counties in the panhandle by placing a ban on fracking or hydraulic fracturing.

May 25, 2016 - The Florida Supreme Court ruled 6-1 last week that the Public Service Commission overstepped its authority when it allowed the state's largest utility to invest in natural gas production and use ratepayer money to cover the cost, the Miami Herald reports.

May 20, 2016 - In a rebuke to Florida Power & Light, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that state regulators exceeded their authority when they allowed the company to charge customers for its speculative investment in an Oklahoma-based fracking company.

May 13, 2016 - St. Petersburg City Council will soon consider an ordinance to ban the drilling technique known as fracking and the transportation or storage of fracking wastewater within the city limits

May 11, 2016 - UF geophysicists Ray Russo and Elizabeth Screaton provide context for the debate over whether fracking should come to Florida, a state with a unique geology and hydrology.

Apr 1, 2016 - As a perennially contested swing state, Florida's decision on whether to pursue more oil and gas development - or instead prioritize protection of land, water, air, and wildlife - is reverberating far and wide.

Mar 31, 2016 - Florida's oil and gas industry has been making the news quite a bit lately as the debate over hydraulic fracturing - fracking - heats up. What seems to be getting missed too often in all the shouting - even though fracking has not been used in the Sunshine State - the oil and gas industry has a long, proven record of operation here.

Mar 24, 2016 - Hydraulic and acidic fracturing "fracking" bill 318 has been highly controversial in Florida, with opponents fierce in their efforts to stop its passing in the Senate. On March 1, these activists got their win as Senate Bill 318 died in appropriations, having lost the committee vote 9-10.

Mar 2, 2016 - TALLAHASSEE ' After an emotional and contentious fight, Florida lawmakers have abandoned their effort to regulate the use of fracking as a technology for extracting oil and gas in the state.

Feb 18, 2016 - TALLAHASSEE - Each session of the Legislature is a tug of war between Florida lawmakers and local governments. The tension runs through many hot-button issues of the day, like outlaw local bans fracking and to pre-empt local efforts at regulating ride-hailing companies like Uber.

Feb 8, 2016 - Industry backed bills introduced by Southwest Florida legislators that would create regulations around fracking in Florida may have sailed through the House, but they're facing more scrutiny, if not outright opposition, in the Senate.

Feb 2, 2016 - GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Thousands of Floridians across the state are criticizing the passing of a bill that would create framework for fracking in Florida. Including a group in North Central Florida who rallied together Saturday.

Jan 31, 2016 - It's 2016, and somehow there is still debate over whether it's a good idea to crack open the earth's crust in search of substances we can use for fuel

Jan 28, 2016 - "In order for the fracking industry to thrive in this state, Florida will have to be drilled so many times that it will become more porous than Swiss cheese," said Democratic Rep. Dwight Dudley of St. Petersburg. He also said fracking will put the state's multi-billion dollar tourism industry at risk by threatening springs and other waterways.

Jan 28, 2016 - The state House passed a controversial measure to regulate fracking, despite significant opposition from Democrats who said the practice could harm the state's natural resources. The House voted 73-45 after more than an hour of passionate debate to approve the bill (HB 191), with just a few Republicans joining Democrats in opposing it.

Jan 26, 2016 - On Today's Radioactivity we replay the latest Florida This Week, a political discussion show on local PBS station WEDU, moderated by Radioactivity's own Rob Lorei. We speak with Kent Bailey of the Tampa Bay Sierra Club about a senate bill that they say will allow the state to overrule local anti-fracking laws.

Jan 18, 2016 - This session the Florida Legislature is considering bills to regulate fracking. This week the Senate Environmental Protection and Conservation Committee advanced a bill that prohibits local governments from banning the controversial oil and natural gas drilling technique.

Jan 18, 2016 - For now, this answer is 'no' for the county to ban fracking. The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) reviewed the impacts of two federal bills related to the oil and gas extraction process of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

Jan 14, 2016 - In response to one landowner's request to drill an "exploratory well" in the Everglades, the Broward County Commission has proposed a blanket ban on fracking throughout the county. The ordinance, which was sponsored by Commissioner Beam Furr, moved forward in today's commission meeting and is now set for a public hearing on January 26.

Jan 6, 2016 - TAVARES - Lake County commissioners today unanimously voted to oppose bills moving quickly through the Legislature that would strip counties of the right to regulate or ban fracking.

Jan 5, 2016 - TAVARES ' Lake County commissioners are expected to consider two resolutions Tuesday against fracking in the state.

One resolution would support a statewide ban on fracking and another opposes legislation pending in the Florida Legislature to prevent counties from regulating fracking.

Jan 3, 2016 - Legislators are pushing through SB 318 and HB 191, fracking bills that allow chemical trade secrets to remain undisclosed to the public, also voiding and barring local bans or regulation of fracking stripping local municipalities and our counties of their right to govern local fracking activities, including business, nuisance and land use.

Dec 17, 2015 - The Estero Village Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to enact a ban on fracking within village borders, despite a cloud of uncertainty over whether measures pending in the Legislature will limit their power to do so.

Dec 10, 2015 - BLOUNTSTOWN ' Calhoun County commissioners opted not to enact a local ban on fracking during their meeting Tuesday night, but they'll revisit the issue next week.

Dec 9, 2015 - As Republican-led state legislators consider rules to make it easier for oil and gas companies to use fracking and other controversial drilling methods in Florida, Orange County is likely to join the growing ranks of communities fighting the practice.