Everglades and Turner River
In a major victory in stopping dangerous
fracking in the
Florida Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, the Dan A. Hughes Co., a Texas oil company, has agreed to close all but one of its fracking sites. The closing of the drilling sites situated on the edge of the federally protected Florida everglades was due to a massive pushback from state environmental activists,
Food and Water Watch and the rigorous support and
work of democratic Senator Bill Nelson.
Sen. Bill Nelson promised Monday to take area concerns about the environmental effects of increasing oil drilling in Southwest Florida back to Washington, and see if legislation is needed. [...]
“I’m going back and getting EPA involved, see what they think and if we need to address it with legislation, we will,” he said. “Otherwise, I’ll be riding the administrative agencies, in this case EPA, to do what they ought to do under the law.”
The focus of the meeting was on the future of oil drilling in the area, the possible dangers to the Everglades ecosystem and aquifers that supply fresh water for residents and municipalities. Attendees said they need to know if fracking and fracking-like processes are safe. They asked for more regulations and scientific research at the state and federal levels.
There are no Florida state laws against fracking and the EPA can’t regulate chemicals used in fracking unless diesel fuel is used because of an exemption to the
Safe Drinking Water Act. So Senator Nelson is heading back to DC to try to get clarification on the Safe Drinking Water Act.
We must continue the pressure until we can elect state leadership who actually care about Florida to work alongside Senator Nelson to preserve the resources which contribute to Florida's unique ecosystem.