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Fracking hasn’t found many friends in the public who have spoken out against the controversial practice at the Capitol. As Matt Galka tells us, opponents scored a small victory Thursday, but fracking isn’t a dead issue at the Capitol yet.

Fracking opponents filled the Senate Appropriations committee to capacity Thursday.

Dozens of people from around Florida traveled to Tallahassee to speak out against the drilling and chemical process.  Andrew Rock from Tampa said he couldn’t think of a bigger issue.

“We don’t want to poison our drinking water and we don’t want to look for more oil and gas,” said Rock.

The bill in question – one that would allow the state to temporarily prohibit fracking, study it, then create guidelines for it.

“If this bill dies, we will wake up in March and still have fracking,” said bill sponsor Garrett Richter (R-Naples).

Senators weren’t convinced it was best for Florida.

“I think the major question is are all these risks worth what we would be getting in return. The answer for me is ‘no,'” said Miami Republican Sen. Anitere Flores.

“You say we don’t know if this is dangerous to Florida. Did we wait for them to drop the atomic bomb on Florida to find out if it was dangerous for us?” said Sen. Arthenia Joyner (D-Tampa).

The bill failed, but the issue isn’t dead yet…the committee made a motion to reconsider it.

It means the bill can be voted on again in the two weeks before session ends. Many opponents said if it comes to that – they’ll be back.

The bill has already passed the state House.