Because Pennsylvania is possibly the decisive state in winning the presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris is attempting a remarkable bait-and-switch on fracking.
Back in 2020, when she was running to be the Democratic presidential nominee, her position on the subject was crystal clear. Then-Sen. Harris said in a television interview, “There’s no question: I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
Now, western Pennsylvania has two of the four largest natural gas fields in the world. It is an energy resource worth thousands of jobs and billions of dollars. The farmers and landowners who earn royalties ― and the men and women who work directly in the natural gas business ― all have deep interest in keeping their industry vibrant and prosperous.
Even rational environmentalists see natural gas as useful. It is the least expensive and least carbon-producing fossil fuel. Switching from coal to natural gas has been a huge driver of reducing U.S. carbon emissions over the last few decades.
By contrast, the left’s green activists totally oppose all fossil fuels, including natural gas. Fracking has been one of their targets for years. However, the left’s extreme position of shutting down the natural gas industry is quite unpopular with consumers and those who work in the industry.
The Biden-Harris administration has been fully committed to eliminating natural gas usage wherever possible, including suggesting that gas stoves should be outlawed. It has provided massive federal subsidies for wind and solar power — and required the electric generation industry to use this alternative power when it is available. This has dramatically and intentionally reduced the use of natural gas — and increased power bills nationwide.
Now that Vice President Harris is desperate to win Pennsylvania, she has suddenly changed her tune. She now says she wouldn’t ban fracking.
The green community appears to be giving her a pass — likely because they believe she’s just saying what she must to win. As Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Director Michael Gerrard said, “It’s a shift in rhetoric, not in policy.”
Another leading climate activist, Fossil Free Media Director Jamie Henn, posted on X:
“Look, personally, I think we should ban fracking and rapidly transition away from all new fossil fuel development. That’s what science says is necessary. But let’s face it, the politics aren’t there yet in a place like Pennsylvania. So I’m not particularly worried about Harris having to thread the needle on fracking and other energy issues. Her job right now is to get elected. That’s the most important ‘policy’ on climate and everything else. They’ll be plenty of time to push her when she’s in office.”
So those who most want to elect Harris are comfortable with her misleading the American people to get elected. They know she can easily revert to her original anti-fracking position.
Furthermore, Harris and her allies know there is another way to destroy fracking without formally trying to get a ban through Congress (which probably could not be done).
All they must do to stop fracking is make it unprofitable through high taxes, regulations and giving massive taxpayer subsidies to alternative energy sources so no one will invest in the natural gas industry.
So Harris can keep her new pledge to not ban fracking and still indirectly destroy it.
The road map for this strategy was laid out by then-Sen. Barack Obama while he was running for president in 2008. He spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board. When he was asked if he would stop all future coal mines, he said no — because he did not have to. Obama’s reasoning was simple:
“So if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”
The parallel between the Obama assault on coal and the Biden-Harris effort to shrink and destroy the rest of the fossil fuel industry is amazing. They learned from him and now they want to go even further. Along the way, they will eliminate the least expensive and most available forms of energy available in America.
The left’s profound dishonesty and contempt for the intelligence of most Americans is amazing.
Harris seems to think a contradictory promise made in the heat of the campaign will get us to overlook a lifetime commitment to bankrupting and destroying the oil and gas industry.
As someone born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who has friends across the Commonwealth, I think Harris is greatly underestimating the intelligence of Pennsylvanians.
On Election Day, I think they are going to repudiate her dishonest arrogance.
Harris’s bait-and-switch isn’t going to work in Pennsylvania.
Newt Gingrich is a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
