Kamala Harris' seemingly diplomatic stance on the debate stage over fracking and oil production has energy experts questioning whether her administration has truly changed its views. [emphasis, links added]
“Given her support for net zero — it’s on every letterhead, every executive order — One cannot infer that she supports fracking,” Gabriella Hoffman, director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at the Independent Women's Forum, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
“Her warning, without answering, that what we are encouraging is a lot of leasing,” she continued, “suggests to me and any other observer in the energy sector that They're not really inviting a culture… I think it's politically opportunistic.“
During Tuesday night's presidential debate on ABC News, Harris faced a question from a moderator that addressed her concerns about fracking, or fracking, between her first and second campaigns. Capricious.
Debate Highlights – Fracking – Harris: “So my values haven't changed and I'm going to discuss at least every point you make. But in particular, let's talk about fracking because we're here in Pennsylvania. I'm in It was clearly stated at 20 20. pic.twitter.com/CMd9VDmgjP
— Simon Atteba (@simonateba) September 11, 2024
The vice president responded that her “values haven't changed” on the issuethe Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) “opened up new leases for fracking,” and the Biden-Harris White House achieved “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history.”
Hoffman cited data from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management showing Oil and gas lease acreage has dropped significantly each year under President Biden compared with the first three years of the Trump administration.
“Demand triggers production to a large extent. I think people forget that, including the vice president,” the energy director explained. “The reason why Vice President Harris touted Biden to increase production and keep it running is because There [are] The checks and balances that you see in other actions come from the regulatory side, from rulemaking.“
“President Biden says he will ban fossil fuels, but he can't do that because of checks and balances. I see the opposite happening. She said this to see if she could win in Pennsylvania, knowing that fracking is a very sensitive topic,” she added.
Hydraulic fracturing refers to the drilling process used to extract natural gas from the ground. Hoffman said they primarily remove sand and water to obtain supplies, using only an eighth of an acre of land.
Her policy center also reportedly tracks the number of new federal onshore and offshore oil leases each year, claiming There are “fewer” new leases now than there were at the end of Trump’s term.
“IRAs are a boon to so-called green energy, namely utility-scale solar and wind. Therefore, this is preferred over oil and gas. While there may be some protections for this,” she noted, “this is for existing oil and gas leases, not for inviting new oil and gas leases.
“If the Biden-Harris administration does oversee the largest oil and gas production in history, they will not dip into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the emergency reserve. [They] There will be no calls on Venezuela, OPEC, other countries… to increase production so we can buy from them. If an event like this occurs, we won't see price increases on water pumps and utility bills.“
“But as I said, because it's determined by supply and demand, despite the regulatory environment we have, You will again see continued production of existing leases rather than new leases.“
Although former President Trump had a record of being pro-conservation and pro-energy during his time in office, Huffman felt he didn't emphasize that on the debate stage last night.
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