What did Kamala Harris say about fracking and banning it—and when did she say it?
It’s an issue in the presidential campaign as critics of the Vice President contend she has stated and declared in the past she would ban fracking, if she were elected to the White House.
In her first TV interview, conducted last week by CNN host Dana Bash, Harris vowed there would be no such fracking ban under her administration. In the event you missed the interview, we dug out the transcript of the interview and here is the segment that focused on the oil and gas practice.
BASH: Do you still want to ban fracking?
HARRIS: No, and I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020, that I would not ban fracking. As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.
BASH: In 2019, I believe in a town hall you said — you were asked, “Would you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking on your first day in office?” and you said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking. So yes.” So it changed in — in that campaign?
HARRIS: In 2020 I made very clear where I stand. We are in 2024, and I have not changed that position, nor will I going forward. I kept my word, and I will keep my word.
BASH: What made you change that position at the time?
HARRIS: Well, let’s be clear. My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far.
The Inflation Reduction Act, what we have done to invest by my calculation over t— probably a trillion dollars over the next ten years investing in a clean energy economy. What we’ve already done creating over 300,000 new clean energy jobs. That tells me from my experience as vice president we can do it without banning fracking. In fact, Dana — Dana, excuse me — I cast the tie-breaking vote that actually increased leases for fracking as vice president. So I’m very clear about where I stand.
BASH: And was there some policy or scientific data that you saw that you said, “Oh, okay. I get it now”?
HARRIS: What I have seen is that we can — we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.
One other part of the interview referred to energy and the efforts of the Biden-Harris administration. Bash asked Harris about other changes she has made on her campaign policies and why they were made.
HARRIS: Dana, I think the — the — the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed and I have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.
We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set goals for the United States of America and by extension the globe around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example. That value has not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, violations of American laws regarding the passage, illegal passage of guns, drugs, and human beings across our border. My values did not change.
Now there’s a great debate over her answers. Did she really change her mind about a fracking ban since declaring in 2019 that she would ban the practice, but now says she won’t? Critics point out that Harris also stated in the CNN interview, “My values did not change.” If her values did not change, does that include her stance taken some years ago against fracking?
Voters will have to decide whether they trust what she said—whether it was said in 2019 or last week.
Click here for full transcript
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