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ORDINANCE NO. 2016 - <br />AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF <br />INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA, CREATING CHAPTER 317 OF THE <br />CODE OF INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA, ENTITLED "OIL AND <br />GAS WELL STIMULATION PROHIBITED"; PROHIBITING OIL AND GAS <br />WELL STIMULATION; AND PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION, <br />SEVERABILITY, A GENERAL REPEALER AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. <br />WHEREAS, clean water is fundamental to the health of Florida's environment, <br />economy and its citizens; and <br />WHEREAS, the public utilities in Indian River County rely on water from the Upper <br />Floridan Aquifer for potable water supplies; and <br />WHEREAS, the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners seeks to <br />protect the water resources of Indian River County from potential contamination by <br />carcinogenic chemicals; and <br />WHEREAS, oil and gas well stimulation including, but not limited to, hydraulic <br />fracturing, matrix stimulation, acid fracturing (a.k.a. "acidizing') and cyclic steam injection, <br />is performed by injecting fluid into a rock formation in order to increase production at an <br />oil or gas well; and <br />WHEREAS, oil and gas well stimulations involve the use of chemical compounds, <br />some of which are determined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to be <br />carcinogenic or which could otherwise pose a widespread and significant risk to public <br />health, safety, and the environment; and <br />WHEREAS, the oil and gas industry is not required by federal or state law to <br />publicly disclose chemical formulas or well stimulation and fracturing fluids; and <br />WHEREAS, in both the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 Florida State Legislative <br />Sessions the Florida Legislature considered legislation which would have required a peer <br />review study to be performed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, <br />which would have: i) evaluated geologic features; ii) evaluated potential hazards and <br />risks, and potential for groundwater contamination; and iii) reviewed and evaluated <br />potential for reclaimed water use and the ultimate disposition of waste fluids; <br />WHEREAS, the legislation would have prohibited permitting activities during both <br />rulemaking and peer review study processes; and <br />WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature did not pass the proposed legislation, thus <br />leaving the citizens of Florida without the critical knowledge of the peer review study nor <br />the prohibition of such activities during such process; and <br />192 <br />