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. Among other things, House Bill 191 and Senate Bill 293 would preempt local government resolutions and ordinances related to oil and gas and declare them void.
While the discussion Monday didn’t result in any decisions on a resolution, it opened the conversation the county will continue on this national issue.
Discussion Monday split between two differing issues. Is fracking safe? Should the state control fracking operations as the bills imply? The only person to speak in favor of both fracking and the bills was Commissioner Bob Cole.
Sam Mullins, a petroleum exploration geologist, said he would have spoken at the meeting if he knew the subject was on the agenda.
A frequent face at the BOCC meetings, Mullins has 30 years work experience in both the oil industry as a petroleum exploration geologist, and the environmental sciences under the Florida Department of Health.
According to Mullins, the big difference between the way fracking works today and standard oil drilling is how fracking digs into the oil shale horizontally along the oil rich rock to collect more oil as compared to drilling straight down.
Traditional wells, he said, produce 10 to 40 barrels a day while fracking productions bring up 3 to 500 barrels a day.
The most strident criticism of the practice regarded the water and chemicals used to open the tight gaps in the shale contaminating the water table.
Wallis Mahute, speaking Monday, said in her research she found oil companies involved in fracking are not required to disclose the chemicals they use. She noted one of the chemicals, benzene, has dangerous effects the more a person comes in contact with or consumes.
Mullins said, yes, agencies need to look over fracking operations to make sure they’re working by the book and mentioned the Deep Water Horizon oil spill.
However, he said the process of fracking takes place thousands of feet under the water table, where the oil shale resides.
Existing lawsuits, Mullins said, had to do with the transport of crude, not the drilling process. “It’s just like trains accidents (while) delivering oil in the Midwest, the spillage from trains derailing.” The Keystone Pipeline, he said, would reduce oil transportation accidents.
Part of the science backing Mullins’ statements come from the Environmental Protection Agency whose four-year study found no inherent water risks. This study began in 2011. Note, the study does not extend to the potential for earthquakes or air quality concerns.
The other issue the board considered was the preemption part of the house and senate bills. Cole put the fracking issue on the level of beach re-nourishment, saying it should be in the state’s hands to handle.
He also added the nature of the horizontal drilling meant if Okaloosa County, for example, decided to allow fracking, but Santa Rosa County did not, a company based in Okaloosa could still end up drilling under the feet of SRC residents.
Mullins’ reason for supporting state control had to do with state agencies like the Florida Department of Natural Resources and the geological department under the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
These departments, he said, would be responsible for collecting key geological data and determining what water these companies could use for the fracking material.
Linda Young, the executive director of the Florida Clean Water Network speaking Monday said several counties passed resolutions opposing the house and senate bills. She also noted the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) oppose the bills.
FAC’s statement reads they “oppose a state preemption of fracking activities,” and “support a moratorium on all fracking activities until an independent and comprehensive Florida-specific study has been completed and peer reviewed.”
Commissioner Rob Williamson spoke in support of the FAC position, saying he is, “one hundred percent in support of protecting home rule.”
As this is an issue as deep as the process of fracking itself, dig down for more details to this story online at www.srpressgazette.com and look out for more on this in the future as House Bill 191 is slated to go into effect July 1 of this year.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Will Santa Rosa County ban fracking?