The fight to ban fracking and offshore drilling off Florida's coast continued Saturday in Jacksonville.
More than a dozen activists and city leaders gathered outside Friendship Fountain for a mock oil spill demonstration to bring awareness to the issue.
The group said fracking and offshore drilling could threaten local water resources and endanger the tourism economy.
''We saw what Deep Water Horizon did for the Gulf Coast. We don't need that on any part of our coast. It's obvious we don't need this to happen in Florida,” Jacksonville city councilman Jim Love said.
“Florida is not the right place to do this sort of this. It will threaten our drinking water, it will threaten our springs and rivers and we need to stand up to ban this practice in our state,” St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman said.
Last month, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, announced Florida would be exempt from a plan to open up most of America’s coastlines to offshore drilling. However, the head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Manager said that exemption was not final.
A Senate committee hearing on a bill to ban fracking in Florida is scheduled to take place on Monday.
