Kamala Harris Strengthens Stance on Fracking in CNN Interview

Vice President Kamala Harris said she would not ban fracking as president, reaffirming in the strongest possible terms her support for a practice she opposed in 2019 that has particular significance in sensitive Pennsylvania.

At the beginning of his first interview since his nomination, Harris was asked by CNN anchor Dana Bash about her previous support for the Green New Deal and comments during the 2019 presidential campaign in which she said she was “without a doubt in favor of banning fracking,” a technique used to extract natural gas from the Earth’s surface. Harris later reversed her stance when she joined President Joe Biden on the ticket.

“I made it clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking as vice president and I have not banned fracking,” Bash said. “As president, I will not ban fracking…we are in 2024 and I have not changed that position and I will not change that position in the future. I have kept my word and I will keep my word.”

Asked what had changed, Harris said her “values ​​haven’t changed. I think it’s really important that we take seriously what we need to do to protect ourselves from a clear climate crisis.”

But Harris said she believes the government could solve the climate crisis by investing in immaculate energy in other ways, and she touted the 300,000 recent immaculate energy jobs created under a Biden-Harris administration.

“I saw that we could grow and expand the clean energy economy without banning fracking.”

Harris also noted that she cast the deciding vote in the U.S. Senate on whether to extend fracking licenses.

“So I know what my position is,” she said.

Pennsylvania is the nation’s second-largest producer of natural gas, so the issue is especially salient in what Bash called “the must-win state of Pennsylvania for Harris.”

Harris’ previous stance has fueled ongoing GOP attacks. Former President Donald Trump said in York last week that the commonwealth would be relegated to “Third World” status if he is not elected in November, claiming that energy production in Pennsylvania would plummet if Harris is elected.

“You’re going to go from being one of the largest producers in terms of fracking, energy production, to being irrelevant,” Trump said of his Democratic opponent. “Your state is going to be Third World. Like most of our country, it’s being turned into Third World by these people. They have no idea.”

After the interview aired on his social media site Truth Social, Trump said he agreed that Harris’ “values ​​haven’t changed” and added that there will be “Zero Fracking” under her administration.

Trump will hold a rally on Friday in Johnstown, a former steel town in western Pennsylvania, where the topic is likely to come up again.

The Harris-Walz interview, recorded on the campaign trail in Savannah, Georgia, premiered Thursday night on CNN and also touched on foreign policy, immigration and the upcoming Sept. 10 debate with Trump in Philadelphia.