Environmental groups: No fracking way

Memo to Gov. Rick Scott: Keep the oil in the soil unless you want the bird dogs on your tail.

That was the message from environmental activists who have and are still fighting against oil extraction expansion in states like New York, Texas, Colorado and California.

"We showed up wherever the governor showed up with signs saying 'ban fracking,'" said Wes Gillingham, an anti-fracking activist with Catskill Mountainkeeper, adding that the group protested at school openings, ribbon-cutting ceremonies and other public events. "He could not go anywhere without seeing anti-fracking signs."

Rose Braz, with the Center for Biological Diversity, called the tactic "bird-dogging," and she encouraged several environmental groups and dozens of concerned citizens meeting Wednesday at the Holiday Inn near Florida Gulf Coast University to do the same.

"All the facts are on our side when it comes to stopping fracking," Braz said during a conference call. "People want clean water and it's a fundamental right. And I think this industry threatens that."

Groups like the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and others are formulating plans they hope will stop any fracking practices here until environmental assessments of the practice can be reviewed by geologists and hydrologists. They met all day Tuesday and Wednesday to get input from people who have successfully fought off fracking.

This type of oil extraction has increasingly become a concern in Florida in recent years as more and more companies apply for drilling permits. Legislative bills have been proposed in recent years to both allow and ban fracking across the Sunshine State.

Locally, Bonita Springs City Council members voted earlier this year to ban fracking operations inside the city limits, and the village of Estero did the same thing at a meeting there Wednesday.

The oil industry says fracking is safe and can be controlled in a way as to not impact drinking water aquifers.

"Hydraulic fracturing is safe and well-regulated by federal and state agencies," oil industry proponent Energy From Shale says on its website. "Fracking technologies and processes continue to be improved, guided by industry standards developed from experiences in the fracking field and which undergo rigorous review before adoption."

But Braz said the industry can't be trusted. She cited a situation in which an oil company earlier this year sold recycled oil waste water to a water supply district in California. That district then sold the water to farmers, who used it to water crops.

Allowing and regulating fracking, though, could stop or slow the process until information about the chemical makeup used to extract the low-grade oil is made public, Gillingham said.

Lax regulations could cripple the state's drinking water sources, ecology and tourism.

"The regulatory process can be a way to educate the public, to put a hold on the situation," Gillingham, said "Should you do regulation or should you do banning? If you’re going to regulate, you better have the capacity in your agency to regulate it very rigorously. Can you verify and inspect (the chemicals being injected into the ground)."

He said Florida is vulnerable until that decision is made and the public takes action to prevent fracking from impacting drinking water sources.

"Accidents happen (when companies prospect for oil). You must assume and you must address accidents. Maybe you tell them to put a mitigation fund (together) ahead of time and then anyone impacted by it can get the money without litigation," he said. "From what I’ve heard, in Florida you need a moratorium or ban until you get that route into place and into public policy."

State Sen. Garrett Richter, a Republican from Naples, introduced a bill last month that would prohibit communities in Florida from banning fracking. The bill would also void all existing bans — like ones in Bonita Springs and Estero.

Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Democrat from Miami, held a media event in Estero that focused on a bill he has filed that would ban fracking.

“I believe that, given the chance, Florida voters will say ‘no thank you’ to the public health risk, environmental contamination and even seismic activity that fracking brings with it,” he said in a statement released earlier this week.

Both have been proposed in the past, and neither has garnered the necessary support to create laws and regulations for this type of oil extraction.

"The welcome mat ... is really already out in Florida," said Jennifer Hecker, with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. "Right now these techniques are being allowed with virtually no regulations with complete secrecy. We have different geology, which may leave us at even greater risk than other states."

Connect with this reporter: ChadGillisNP on Twitter.