Kamala Harris Flip Flops On Fracking, Says She Won’t Ban Fracking
Jose Nino
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On August 29. 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she wouldn’t stop fracking if she is elected as president. This policy posture reflects a flip-flop on Harris’ part, who previously opposed this innovative technique to produce the bulk of oil and gas in the present.
“As vice president, I did not ban fracking,” Harris stated during an interview on CNN. “As president, I will not ban fracking.”
Such a position is a calculated move as Harris tries to court voters in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, which has the second-highest level of natural gas production in the nation.
Former President Donald Trump has correctly attacked Democrats like Harris for their punitive stance on fracking. Such measures, if implemented, would invariably kill energy jobs and cause an upward spike in gasoline prices.
For perspective, in a statement she made at a CNN presidential forum during her failed 2019 presidential bid, she said the following with respect to her stance on what to do with fracking: “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
Harris would subsequently tone down her stance with respect to fracking by sharing her boss Joe Biden’s view that the method should be more stringently regulated.
Right after Biden dropped out of the presidential election in July and Harris became the nominee for the Democratic Party, a Harris campaign spokesperson said she wouldn’t prohibit fracking if she becomes the next president .
Fracking generally involves pumping water, sand and chemicals underground to extract oil and gas from rock formations of high density. Fracking accounts for the overwhelming majority of gas and oil production in the US and is used in approximately 95% of the nation’s wells.
Fracking has allowed the US to experience unprecedented degrees of energy autonomy. This has not only made it less reliant on countries in volatile regions like the Middle East to meet its energy needs, it provides stable work for white working class voters and affordable energy for the economy to run on.
Should the energy sector be excessively regulated, it would result in a mass impoverishment of the US population and potentially create a systemic collapse of the American economy. Rational, market-oriented policies are the answer for the country’s energy problems.
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