Bernie Sanders’s vow to ban fracking if he’s elected president isn’t scaring off Democrats living atop Colorado’s biggest oil field.
The Vermont senator took 38% of the vote in Weld County, the epicenter of Colorado’s booming oil production, racking up almost twice as many votes as rival Joe Biden, who has taken a more moderate position on oil development. The outcome comes amid aggressive industry warnings that a fracking ban would cut jobs and hurt families in oil-rich areas, including Colorado.
Even in Midland, Texas — the heart of the Permian basin — Sanders won a solid 25% of voters to Biden’s 38%. Texas voters offered up another surprise for oil drillers, too — effectively ousting a member of the state’s energy regulator who had defended excessive gas flaring in the Permian.
Source: Bloomberg News