Just hours after the annual legislative session starts Tuesday, a Senate committee will take up a bill that would ban fracking in Florida.
The Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee is slated Tuesday afternoon to consider the bill (SB 442), filed by Sen. Dana Young, R-Tampa.
Fracking is a method of drilling for oil and natural gas that has become controversial in recent years as it has become widely used in other parts of the country.
Florida lawmakers debated a measure last year that would have created a regulatory framework for fracking in the state, but the bill did not pass the Senate. Environmentalists opposed the bill, arguing that it could open the door to fracking.
Young held a news conference in January with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to announce an effort to ban fracking. Supporters of fracking say the practice helps meet energy demands and holds down energy costs for consumers.
