Kamala Harris will not seek to ban fracking if she becomes US president, campaign officials have confirmed, with the de facto Democratic nominee expected to focus instead on aggressively promoting the stark contrast on the climate crisis between Joe Biden’s administration and Donald Trump.
Harris had previously, as a candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination, vowed to ban fracking, as well as back a Green New Deal, a progressive resolution to shift the US to 100% renewable energy, and new government dietary guidelines to encourage people to reduce their meat eating.
“I’m committed to passing a Green New Deal, creating clean jobs and finally putting an end to fracking once and for all,” Harris said during her unsuccessful campaign. She separately told CNN there is “no question” she favored a ban on fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, which involves using pumping liquids and sand into deep underground fissures to help dislodge more oil and gas.
Since becoming vice-president in 2021, however, Harris has followed the Biden administration approach that allows fracking, although the Environmental Protection Agency has drawn up rules to limit the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that often escapes during fracking.
Trump has nevertheless sought to tie Harris to an anti-fracking stance, seeking to damage her position in key states such as Pennsylvania, a fracking hotspot. “She wants no fracking,” the former president told supporters in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week. “You’re going to be paying a lot of money. You’re going to be paying so much. You’re going to say, ‘bring back Trump’.”
Trump’s claims on fracking are incorrect, according to the Harris campaign. “Trump’s false claims about fracking bans are an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class,” said a campaign spokesman, who confirmed Harris did not support a ban.
Fracking has long been controversial due to concerns over pollution of local water supplies, and several green groups have called for a national ban. California is in the final stages of implementing a ban on new fracking in the state, with Governor Gavin Newsom saying it is needed to “create a healthier future for our children”.
“It’s disappointing to hear that Vice-President Harris say that she no longer supports a ban on fracking,” said Mitch Jones, deputy director of Food & Water Action. “Still, there are massive differences between her positions on key climate and environmental issues and those espoused by [Donald] Trump.”
Highlighting those differences between Harris and Trump on climate and providing sharper messaging around the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments such as the landmark Inflation Reduction Act will be a key part of the vice-president’s campaign, according to one leading Democratic strategist.
“Kamala Harris has supported Biden’s overall climate and energy policy and I expect her to continue that, perhaps with a more aggressive approach to super-pollutants such as methane,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former climate adviser to Bill Clinton’s White House and an environmental policy expert.
“I hope she leans in on how the US has to compete in clean-energy technologies that are the key to the future and reducing consumer prices. If she does that she will be politically successful, because Trump’s electric vehicle demonization, for example, is preposterous.
“There’s a huge opportunity for Harris. Biden was unable to articulate the case, and the debate was just a massive opportunity lost on climate because Trump’s positions are indefensible.”
A handful of environmental groups have now formally endorsed Harris, with several attempting to push her towards more ambitious policies amid a summer of new heat records. On Monday, about 150 young people organized by the Sunrise Movement rallied outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters to urge Harris to put forward a “comprehensive plan on the economy and climate”.
The action came a day after the most high-profile climate endorsement yet for Harris, who is expected to clinch her party’s formal nomination at next month’s Democratic convention. Harris is the “kind of climate champion we need in the White House”, according to Al Gore, the former US vice-president turned climate advocate.
“With so much at stake in this year’s election – from strengthening democracy in the US and abroad, to expanding opportunity for the American people, to accelerating climate action – I’m proud to endorse Kamala Harris for president.”
