From Fracking Critic To Supporter? Why Kamala’s Flip-Flop Is More Political Posturing

Vice President Kamala Harris has tried to fashion herself as a fracking proponent when pressed on the subject, but she has routinely omitted key context from her go-to defensive talking point. [emphasis, links added]

Harris, who said in 2019 that there is “no question” fracking should be banned, has pointed to her tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as evidence that she now supports oil and gas development.

However, the Biden-Harris administration slow-walked or otherwise undermined the oil and gas leasing that the bill stipulates must happen in exchange for progress on green energy leases.

“So my values have not changed. And I’m going to discuss everyone — at least every point that you’ve made. But in particular, let’s talk about fracking because we’re here in Pennsylvania. I made that very clear in 2020, I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as Vice President of the United States [she doesn’t have the power],” Harris said in response to a question about her numerous policy reversals during Tuesday night’s debate against former President Donald Trump.

“And, in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking.”

During an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Harris made a similar statement in response to a question about her position on fracking.

Kamala Harris: "There's no question. I'm in favor of banning fracking."

This should go over well in Pennsylvania. pic.twitter.com/a5vcp4HBWz

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 22, 2024

Specifically, the IRA stipulated that to create new offshore wind leases, the federal government must offer no less than 60 million acres worth of offshore oil and gas leases in the prior year, according to the Columbia Law School’s IRA tracker.

That provision was the handiwork of then-Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who insisted on including that sort of language in the IRA as the bill was being negotiated, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The bill passed without a single GOP vote after Manchin and fellow holdout Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema were won over to support the legislation.

Additionally, the IRA tied onshore oil and gas activity, which often involves fracking, to green energy development on federal lands, according to E&E News.

The law also required the federal government to offer two million acres of land for oil and gas leases in the year before it issued permits for wind and solar projects.

However, the Biden-Harris administration has also taken massive swathes of the country’s public lands off the table for oil and gas development.

MUST WATCH: @DanaPerino RIPS into the Biden administration’s green energy push for driving up inflation while at the same time diverting taxpayer dollars to wealthy Democrat donors:

“The American people have understood that Biden’s green energy policies have led to the inflation… pic.twitter.com/LMZzMt3dgS

— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) June 26, 2024

In Alaska alone, the administration has restricted future development on tens of millions of acres, including about half of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

After the bill became law, the Biden-Harris administration proceeded to slow-walk its five-year leasing schedule covering 2024-2029, an administrative vehicle for holding up the oil and gas end of the Manchin compromise.

Ultimately, the administration finalized the five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan in December 2023 — more than a year behind schedule — and offered the bare minimum of 60 million acres over three lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, the lowest number of sales in any five-year plan in American history.

By comparison, the Biden-Harris administration released an ambitious five-year leasing plan for offshore wind that called for a dozen offshore wind leases through 2029.

A separate lease sale during the Biden-Harris years also indicates that a prospective Harris-Walz administration may not be as amenable to oil and gas development as the vice president suggested on the debate stage.

Read rest at Daily Caller