Last month the state House passed a bill that would study and regulate fracking in Florida; the Senate version will get its final committee vote Thursday.
At a press conference in Temple Terrace City Hall Wednesday morning, Michelle Allen, the Florida organizer with Food and Water Watch, called the bill a smokescreen.
The City of Temple Terrace and many other parts of the state have passed resolutions banned fracking – but if this bill passes those bans would be moot.
Hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting high pressure water, sand and chemicals deep underground to fracture rock to release trapped fossil fuels.
Environmentalists are calling on the Senate Appropriations Committee to reject the bill. Lois Kershner is from Brandon and lives in the district of the Appropriations Committee chair, Senator Tom Lee.
Kent Bailey, chair of the Tampa Bay Sierra Club, says one of the reasons to avoid fracking in Florida is because burning fossil fuels is causing sea level rise to accelerate.
