Josh Shapiro Could Help Kamala Harris Solve Fracking Issues in Pennsylvania

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign this week sought to play down the fallout from her 2019 statements in which she supported a ban on hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking.

Politicians seeking votes in Pennsylvania must take a middle ground on fracking, a method of drilling horizontally through shale to tap pockets of natural gas. Harris’s change of heart is emblematic of the treacherous path Democrats are treading in Pennsylvania, where the fossil fuel industry is flaunting its economic and political clout even as the state has energized environmentalists pushing for renewable energy.

Harris’s original call for a ban came during CNN meeting in 2019 when she said there was “no question I am in favor of banning fracking and starting with what we can do from day one on public lands.”

Fracking in Pennsylvania occurs on private property. This would require Congress to restrict fracking on private property.

Harris withdrew from office in 2020 after becoming President Joe Biden’s vice presidential nominee. An official from the vice president’s campaign told The Inquirer on Thursday that she no longer supports a ban on fracking.

Pennsylvania Democrat Josh Shapiro, Harris’ potential vice presidential candidate, has managed to keep the natural gas industry from getting too worked up, though he has bruised some people in the process. Observers say he could support Harris navigate the arduous terrain.

‘Significant impact’

That’s no simple task: Any talk of interfering with natural gas production has raised alarm among fossil fuel companies, lawmakers and labor unions who say bans or phaseouts would threaten energy independence and much-needed jobs.

“I have serious thoughts about the person who makes such comments without realizing how important they are. [fracking] “This lawsuit is about the state and the United States,” state Sen. Gene Yaw (R., Lycoming), a frequent — and politically influential — supporter of the industry, said of Harris.

Yaw said fracking accounts for 90% of the country’s oil and gas production.

“It’s a really serious blow for someone to make those comments without understanding how serious a ban would be,” Yaw said of Harris.

Yaw, a Republican, is chairman of the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, in a divided purple state where Democrats narrowly control the House and Republicans control the upper chamber. Shapiro has a needle to thread.

Dave Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade association focused on unconventional shale development, said a ban on unconventional drilling “would be nothing short of a disaster.” He said his group is bipartisan and advocates for policies for the industry, which he said directly or indirectly supports 100,000 workers.

“It would certainly have a negative impact on consumers in terms of energy costs and could impact our energy security and national security,” he said of the ban.

Trump Attacks Harris’ Previous Position on Fracking

Trump campaigned in Harrisburg on Wednesday and promised to end what he called the “war on fracking” that is “destroying” jobs in Pennsylvania.

“Listen, if they get in there, your state is in trouble… you, the people, are in trouble… but I will never allow that,” Trump said.

Yet the Biden administration, despite pushing for renewable energy, has never joined calls to ban fracking, spending nearly 50% more drilling permits There is more oil and natural gas on federal land than during Trump’s presidency, and oil and gas production in the U.S. is growing year over year, according to E & E NewsHarris did not oppose this position while serving as Biden’s vice president.

Additionally, the administration has set up seven centers across the country to produce hydrogen fuel. MACH2 Hub will be in the Philadelphia region and will produce hydrogen using renewable energy sources. But ARCH2 Hub The project, which spans West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, would produce hydrogen using natural gas, enraging environmentalists who say it is a hidden gift to the fossil fuel industry.

Shapiro could help

Shapiro has learned to navigate the complicated politics surrounding fracking, even as environmentalists complain about methane emissions, continued drilling, contaminated well water, pipeline leaks, abandoned wells and climate change — all of which are linked to fossil fuels.

David Hess, former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, who leads an influential blog on ecological topicscredits Shapiro with two climate and energy projects, known as PRESS and PACERenvironmental justice initiatives and finding additional resources for DEP. As a result, he helped environmentalists win some victories without raising too much ire from the energy industry.

PRESS would raise renewable energy targets but include nuclear, fusion and cleaner forms of natural gas. PACER would calculate Pennsylvania’s carbon dioxide emissions cap.

“I think he generally gave it high marks,” Hess said. “He walked a very narrow path because he also wanted to get the unions to support these proposals. The unions did not oppose them strongly.”

David Masur, executive director of the nonprofit PennEnvironment, which serves as an activist group, doesn’t always agree with Shapiro but says the governor has learned to tread a cautious path.

Masur cites a devastating 2020 grand jury report led by Shapiro, then the state’s attorney general, in the fracking industry. Grand jurors issued eight recommendations to address health and safety concerns caused by hydraulic fracturing.

While he supports the report, Masur notes that none of the recommendations have been implemented. Some are not under Shapiro’s control as governor, Masur notes, and some could be.

That exposed Shapiro to criticism from groups such as Philadelphia-based Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, which issued a statement last week saying Shapiro “has not implemented any of the recommendations made by the grand jury that he previously promoted. He no longer publicly discusses the public health threat posed by the fossil fuel industry in the state.”

The group accused Shapiro of making “dangerous side deals with fossil fuel companies.”

In 2022, Houston-based Coterra Energy Inc. he pleaded not guilty to methane gas leaking into the Dimock Aqueduct in Susquehanna County.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has long maintained a moratorium on gas production in Dimock, where fracking has ravaged the town since at least 2008. Then in 2022. DEP lifts moratoriumwhich allowed more drilling and angered some residents.

Drilling will continue under Shapiro, who took office in 2023 and campaigned for more oversight of the industry.

“I know she claims to be for a clean, green Pennsylvania, but from my personal experience, I don’t see that,” said Victoria Switzer, a Dimock resident who wants Harris to pick another vice presidential candidate. “I don’t see the truth in that. I have a different story to tell.”

This article was co-authored by Inquirer staff writer Fallon Roth.