Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he personally supports hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, yet believes drilling should be up to local voters to decide.
“Well, I’m in favor of fracking, but voters should have a big say in it. Some areas maybe they don’t want to have fracking. And I think if the voters are voting for it, that’s up to them,” Trump told reporters Friday while at a campaign stop in Colorado.
“Fracking is something that we need. Fracking is something that’s here whether we like it or not, but if a municipality or a state wants to ban fracking, I can understand that,” the real estate mogul turned presidential nominee added.
Trump’s position may not go over well in a state like Colorado, where energy groups and others have criticized municipalities in the state for putting the legality of fracking up to a popular vote. It may also run smack dab against a recent court ruling prohibiting municipalities and local areas from outright banning or restricting natural gas development.
Two Colorado cities — Longmont and Fort Collins — claimed in May that state law doesn’t explicitly permit fracking, so a ban was not an illegal procedure. The energy industry defeated the cities proposal through the Colorado Supreme Court.
