Jennifer Rubiello
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – In a single year, fracking wells across the country released at least 5.3 billion pounds of the potent greenhouse gas methane, as much global warming pollution as 22 coal-fired power plants.
The statistic is one of many in a new study by Environment Florida Research & Policy Center that quantifies the environmental harm caused by more 137,000 fracking wells permitted since 2005.
“The numbers in this report don’t lie,” said Jennifer Rubiello, director Environment Florida. “For the past decade, fracking has been a nightmare for our drinking water, our open lands, and our climate.”
St. Petersburg City Councilmembers Darden Rice, Steve Kornell, and Karl Nurse spoke today on the steps of St. Petersburg City Hall about the city’s pending ordinance banning fracking and fracking wastewater. Local doctors, business owners, faith leaders, and over a dozen other concerned residents joined Environment Florida and the councilmembers today to release the report.
“Fracking and the storage or transportation of fracking wastewater is not compatible with our city’s commitment to sustainability, our commitment to completing a Climate Action Plan, our commitment and responsibility to building a resilient city, and even our beginning efforts to divest our investment portfolios of fossil fuel funds,” said Rice.
The report, an update of a similar 2013 study, paints a frightening picture of fracking’s harms in addition to its global warming pollution — including toxic chemical use and destroyed land.
“In just the last two and a half years, the number of fracked oil and gas wells has increased by 55,000,” said Dr. Les Cole, long-time St. Petersburg physician. “That growth in fracked wells means more polluted water, more toxic chemicals and more communities at risk.”
“As a local business owner here in St. Petersburg, I need clean water to operate,” said Rick Hamilton, owner of Creative Soul Studio. “Water contamination from fracking pollution could put me out of business.”
The major findings of Fracking by the Numbers: The Damage to Our Air, Water and Climate from a Decade of Dirty Drilling include:
Given the scale and severity of fracking’s impacts, the report says fracking should be prohibited wherever possible, and stricter regulations should be enacted to better protect communities already on the frontlines of drilling.
The report also gives lift to the effort to convince President Obama to end new fracking and drilling leases on public lands and in public waters, in order to keep upwards of 450 billion tons of global warming pollution out of the atmosphere.
“From contaminated water, to marred landscapes, to increased global warming pollution, fracking has been an environmental disaster,” said Rubiello. “The best way to protect our health and climate from this dirty drilling is to ban it, and keep fossil fuels safely in the ground. That’s why we’re thankful that St. Petersburg is leading the way to protect our health and our community by joining cities across the country in banning fracking and fracking wastewater altogether.”