© 2024 WFSU Public Media
WFSU News · Tallahassee · Panama City · Thomasville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Fracking Opponents See Fertile Ground In House and Senate

Environmental groups fighting hydraulic fracturing in Florida have a new megaphone.

Republican Sen.-elect Dana Young of Tampa is filing a bill outlawing the controversial oil and gas drilling technique and says she will make it a priority.

Young faces an uphill battle in the House, but Rethink Energy President Kim Ross says fracking opponents are making progress.

“I’m so pleased that we’re starting at this conversation point, where there’s a recognition that this particular method of extraction is not one that we need here in the state of Florida.”

Ross says she’s working with Republican Representative Mike Miller of Winter Park on a fracking ban companion bill. And Senator Anitere Flores of Miami, another Republican fracking opponent, is about to become second in command.

A Miami native, former WFSU reporter Jim Ash is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.