If the oil and gas industry wasn’t on alert with Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign threat to ban all hydraulic fracking, then it should be now after Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in the past week to do just that.
The Senator, who is a Vermont Independent running for the Democratic nomination for President introduced the measure titled “a bill to ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing, and for other purposes,” according to the Library of Congress, though the text of the legislation was not available on the site.
Sanders has called for a ban on fracking while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, as has Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) according to The Hill.
Sanders tweeted about the bill, which he said was also worked on by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.) on Thursday. Merkley was listed as a co-sponsor.
The tweet included a video of actor Mark Ruffalo talking about a potential federal ban fracking.
“Mark Ruffalo just spoiled Bernie and AOC’s bill to ban fracking,” the video said.
I don’t mind if @MarkRuffalo spoils his own movies. But please, don’t ruin the surprise of our new legislation with Rep. @AOC, @SenJeffMerkley and @RepDarrenSoto.
I don’t want the dirty fracking industry CEOs to know what hit them. pic.twitter.com/OBbQnpOHsy
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 30, 2020
However, the announcement of the bill drew criticism from those in the oil industry.
“Banning a safe, successful method of developing energy would erase a generation of American energy progress and in the process destroy millions of U.S. jobs, spike household energy costs and hurt farmers and manufacturers,” said Bethany Aronhalt, American Petroleum Institute spokeswoman.
Source: The Hill
