Fracking battle brewing in Bonita Springs

Published: Updated:

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla.- A rallying cry against an oil drilling technique is taking place right here in Southwest Florida.

Environmental groups are urging people to descend on Bonita Springs to pressure the City Council to ban fracking.

Environmentalists want people to wear red, and go to City Hall Wednesday morning when city officials are supposed to vote on banning the oil extraction technique.

Environmentalists say a subsidiary of the Barron Collier companies owns mineral rights to some undeveloped land in Bonita Springs.

They fear Collier Resources will use hydraulic fracturing of rock, and the injecting of acid, to help find oil.

Karen Dwyer led the fight against the Hogan Well in Collier County. She and others succeeded in getting the owners, Hughes Oil, to shut down, and go back to Texas.

“The process of fracking is too risky, given what we’d lose. It only takes one accident to lose your water resources,” said Dwyer.

Some in Bonita Springs say the science on fracking is not definite, and the City Council should stay out of the matter.

“I think it’s a waste of money for them to go into it any deeper,” said resident Dave Tanner.

 

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.