Vice President Kamala Harris, in an interview with CNN on Thursday night, suggested she has supported fracking since 2020, but the Biden-Harris administration has pushed through a number of aggressive anti-oil and natural gas policies since 2021.
Harris said in 2019:There is no doubtShe has said fracking should be banned, but told CNN host Dana Bash that she denied that position in 2020, a claim that was backed by one of CNN's fact checkers. In dispute after that Interview — and she doesn’t support a ban today, but the Biden-Harris administration has taken numerous steps during its term to crack down on fracking and oil and gas activity on a large scale. (Related: The Harris campaign is adamant that Kamala won't repeal fracking, but does anyone believe that?)
What's new: CNN fact-checks Kamala Harris after claiming she changed her position on fracking in 2020.
During the interview, Kamala claimed that he became a fan of Drill Baby Drill in 2020.
After the interview, CNN's Daniel Dale looked back at the 2020 debate transcript and said: pic.twitter.com/bdNWdA7zo7
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 30, 2024
“Do you still want to ban fracking?” Bash asked Harris, who was accompanying her in her first in-person interview since replacing President Joe Biden as the de facto Democratic nominee in July. Harris was accompanied by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“No, I said in the 2020 debates that I would not ban fracking. As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking,” Harris responded.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale pointed out after the interview that Harris did not actually explicitly state her opposition to a ban on fracking during the 2020 vice presidential debate. Transcript During a 2020 debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence, she repeatedly said that “Joe Biden will not end fracking,” a statement that clearly did not include her.
“Why did you change your position at the time?” Bash asked, seemingly unaware that Harris did not actually clearly and completely reverse her position during the 2020 debate.
“Let me be clear: my values haven't changed,” Harris responded. “I believe it's critically important that we think seriously about what we need to do to protect ourselves from the clear climate crisis, and we can do that by doing what we've already done.”
Harris suggested the U.S. could make the energy transition without a ban on fracking, touting Biden's signature climate change bill, the Inflation and Resilience Act (IRA), which passed the Senate with Harris's co-vote in 2022, as evidence. She also said the IRA was essentially Mandated She pointed to several oil and gas lease sales as evidence she is not opposed to fracking. (Related article: Harris campaign official evades question from CNN host about VP's change of stance on fracking issue)
Then-California Democratic Senator Kamala Harris speaks during the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential election season, co-hosted by The New York Times and CNN at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, on October 15, 2019. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
However, according to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the amount of land area available for lease sale, the number of leases issued, and the amount of land area issued through those leases have all been trending significantly downward during the Biden-Harris Administration’s tenure. data The Western Energy Alliance also analyzed the Found The Biden-Harris administration has enacted roughly 250 measures to make it harder for oil and gas to be produced.
For example, Biden Presidential Decree Within a week of taking office, he passed legislation to halt new oil and gas leasing on federally managed lands, but the courts ultimately stepped in and overturned the policy. The administration also announced the most inadequate offshore oil and gas leasing plan in modern U.S. history in December 2023, and the IRA also included a de facto new tax on natural gas producers.
The Biden-Harris administration also froze permits for new liquefied natural gas export terminals in January and moved to remove tens of millions of acres of land in Alaska from oil and gas activity.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As an independent, nonpartisan news service, all content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation is available free of charge to any legitimate news publisher with a large readership. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and affiliation with the DCNF. If you have any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
