Vice President Kamala Harris has told the public that she has moderated her views on energy issues, but policy experts and commentators who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation remain unconvinced that her change is genuine.

Harris began her political career in the progressive stronghold of San Francisco. Left wing environment She has held a variety of positions throughout her political career, and recently launched her 2024 presidential campaign. Claimed While Harris has portrayed herself as a moderate on major policies, she will have to show she has truly changed her position on key energy issues before she can be believed, commentators and policy experts told DCNF.

One of her most significant policy shifts is on the issue of fracking, the extraction of oil and gas. TechnologyAs a candidate in the 2020 presidential election, she supported banning the practice, and her campaign recently The Hill She no longer supports the ban. (RELATED: “Border Secretary” Kamala Harris previously blamed the migration surge on “lack of climate adaptation.”)

'The dam will break': Trump insider predicts backlash against Kamala's underground campaignhttps://t.co/HSOgCqE094

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“She's on the fence about fracking, but she hasn't actually said she's not against fracking anymore. She's sent out campaign staff to say that,” Mike McKenna, a Republican strategist with energy sector experience, told DCNF. “The real question is, does she think California should have the right to determine the vehicle mix in the United States? Is she in favor of an EV mandate? I've never heard anyone ask that question, and I have a feeling it would be pretty hard for her to answer. I think we know what the answer is.”

Her shifting stance on the fracking ban and other issues reflects a campaign strategy that characterizes an “evolution” of her thinking on environmental policy and other fronts. According to To Axios.

Harris' record as California's attorney general, senator and vice president also shows her taking a left-leaning stance on climate and energy issues, but neither she nor her campaign have disclosed where she stands on some of the policies she has supported in recent years, such as a carbon tax.

As California Attorney General, Harris Investigated She sued ExxonMobil in 2016 for misleading the public about the connection between climate change and its products. Sued In protest against the Obama administration's decision to allow offshore fracking off the coast of California, Trillions of dollars As a Senator in 2019, I will push for a Green New Deal plan to wean America off its reliance on fossil fuels.

She served as vice president Suggested Many young Americans suffer from “climate anxiety,” a fear of what climate change will bring in the future, and in some cases it can be so severe that young people are even considering not having children because of it.

“Moderation. I can't breathe!” CNN commentator Scott Jennings told the DCNF, suggesting he thought the idea was ridiculous.

“Only a real interview, press conference or debate would resolve this issue,” Jennings continued, referring generally to Harris' policy shifts on several issues, “but the interview needs to be more than just kowtowing or leg-pushing.”

Harris has not participated in any lengthy public interviews or news conferences since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's de facto presidential nominee. In brief comments to reporters, Harris said: said On Thursday, her team announced they hope to schedule interviews by the end of August. (RELATED: Biden, not Harris, announces big sit-down with CBS)

.Scott Jennings KY Vice President Kamala Harris says she doesn't want to answer questions to hide her left-wing background pic.twitter.com/GBiR6kBDqY

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Harris' home state is politically dominated by Democrats, but it has been more proactive in promoting green energy and climate change than any other state in the country.

“My impression of Kamala Harris is that she's a career politician who will do whatever it takes to get elected, and she's benefited in her career from the fact that she's part of the political establishment that runs California. In many ways, the California Democratic establishment today is a 21st century version of Tammany Hall, or Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's establishment,” Edward Ring, co-founder of the California Policy Center, told DCNF. “She's not going to change. She's going to remain part of that establishment, and that establishment wants to expand government.”

Ring said Harris is a product of the same “machine” that spawned the political careers of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

California's residential electricity rates were higher than every other state except Hawaii as of May 2024. According to The U.S. Energy Information Administration Gasoline prices On average, it is the most expensive in the continental U.S. The state's power grid narrowly avoided blackouts in 2022, and policymakers Pursuit The goal is to build a power grid that runs on 100% green energy by 2045.

Chevron, a major oil and gas company, recently Relocate The company is headquartered outside of California in part because of the state's hostile attitude toward the traditional energy industry.

“California is an environmental and energy disaster. There is nothing good going on environmentally or energy-wise in California. They have huge environmental problems,” Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow at the Energy and Environmental Law Institute, told the DCNF of Harris' home state. “And she [as running mate Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz is also a net-zero lunatic. He wants Minnesota to be fossil fuel-free by 2040. Crazy. I mean, anonymous sources say she changed her mind on fracking, but there's no such thing. If you're going to be fooled by that, you should make her your president. It would be a disaster for all of us.”

California too Allowed Many states have chosen to follow California's lead, with legislation aimed at setting stricter auto emissions standards than the federal government's, which will ban the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles after 2035.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign doesn't believe Harris has moderated, despite efforts to convince the public that she has.

“Kamala Harris is just as incompetent as Joe Biden, and even more liberal. She was the Senate runoff voter for Joe Biden's most disastrous policies,” Caroline Leavitt, national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “A vote for Kamala is a vote for inflation, open borders, high gas prices, and continued wars around the world.”

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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