Fracking Summit draws celebrity attention

By Meredith Barnard | Conservancy Environmental Policy Analyst

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, along with our partners Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Biological Diversity, and EarthJustice, hosted the 2016 Florida Fracking Summit on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.

The event attracted over 250 people from all over the state and featured expert speakers from around the country. The attendees had the opportunity to learn about the effects of unconventional oil extraction on air, land, water as well as human health.

In his Keynote address, Dr. Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University emphasized the need for Floridians to become better educated on the widespread impacts of fracking. As an advocate for science-based policy, he encouraged attendees to learn as much as much as possible to better fend off controversial oil extraction in Florida’s sensitive environment.

Attendees also had a surprise video appearance from actor Mark Ruffalo, who plays the alter ego of the Incredible Hulk in the Avengers movies.

Ruffalo started the non-profit organization called Water Defense, and Scott Smith, Chief Technology Officer & Investigator at Water Defense, represented the organization in person and spoke at the Summit. Ruffalo’s moving video address to our attendees highlighted how he became a voice for this issue, and he put emphasis on the fact that after these types of fracking operations take place, what you have left is not only fractured geology, but also a fractured community.

All of the speaker presentations, including Mark Ruffalo’s video address, are available online at www.flfrackingsummit.org.