Can a president ban fracking? Experts fact-check Harris and Trump's oil and gas claims
When Kamala Harris and Donald Trump met on the ABC News debate stage this week, the vice president reiterated her changed energy position, saying she would not institute a "fracking ban" if elected.The debate was held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.Pennsylvania is a key swing state in the race with the second-highest oil and gas economy in the country."Let's talk about fracking because we're here in Pennsylvania," Harris said Tuesday evening.Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speak during an ABC News presidential debate in Philadelphia, on Sept.
10, 2024.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesHarris vowed she would not enact a national ban on fracking despite having voiced support for anti-drilling measures at a climate crisis town hall in 2019, during her first campaign for the White House.MORE: Harris-Trump presidential debate transcriptWhen she joined President Joe Biden's ticket, however, she moved away from that stance and helped pass the administration's landmark 2022 infrastructure bill -- which invests in both domestic oil production and green energy solutions."I will not ban fracking.I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States.
And, in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking," Harris said Tuesday.Energy experts told ABC News after the debate that Harris and Trump's conversation surrounding fracking was misleading on both sides of the aisle, saying the president has less control over fracking than may be publicly perceived."I heard some confusion on both sides, really, in the debate last night, when we talk about fracking," Tim Tarpley, president of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, told ABC News.MORE: Fact-checking Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's 1st presidential debate"Both candidates were throwing around this so-called fracking ban to each othe...