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A 'Ray' Of Hope For Fracking Legisation This Year

FlaFrack.org

The House Majority Leader says there’s a chance a hydraulic fracturing bill could pass the Florida Legislature this year.

Representative Ray Rodrigues of Fort Myers  opposes a statewide ban by Republican Senator Dana Young of Tampa, but he says it contains the seeds of a compromise.

“There’s still a possibility that the bill, using the basis of the Young bill, which includes a statewide preemption on oil and gas regulation, and a moratorium, or a temporary ban on the subject of unconventional oil extraction, is definitely a possibility.”

However, Rodrigues says any bill would have to protect property rights.

Fracking opponents fought Rodrigues’ attempts last year to preempt local fracking bans, but Rodrigues says their support for a statewide ban convinces him they’ve moved closer to his position.

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.