Kamala Harris disavowed her 2019 pledge to ban fracking. Now there are signs she could squash the green dream of ending new oil production on public lands, writes Heather Richards. The vice president has not outlined her plans for regulating the nation’s massive oil output should she win November’s election. But Harris has twice boasted that her tie-breaking vote on Democrats’ massive climate law opened new leasing for fossil fuels. And the Biden administration has not carried out the president’s 2020 campaign promise to stop new oil and gas drilling on federal lands. When Heather asked the Harris campaign for clarification, a spokesperson sent a statement that touted the county’s record “energy production” and the vice president’s support of “clean air, clean water, and affordable, reliable energy.” That rhetoric — not to mention Harris’ debate comments on the need to “invest in diverse sources of energy” — matches the kind of language that is nowadays largely deployed by Republicans, putting climate advocates on alert and baffling some analysts. “I’m frankly mystified,” Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale University’s Program on Climate Change Communication, told Heather. “It feels to me like her strategy team is operating with a playbook from 2010.” The nation’s oil leasing program is huge. It’s responsible for one in every four barrels of U.S. crude production and is one of the largest sources of federal revenue, often ranking second only to taxes. But environmentalists say ending new drilling in federal waters and on public lands is low-hanging fruit in the country’s effort to cut planet-warming emissions. President Joe Biden pledged to stop all new public lands drilling, but his order to pause federal oil and gas leasing in 2021 was quickly reversed by a federal judge. And the push was ultimately dropped due to the global energy uncertainty driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. “It’s time to finish the job,” said Kaniela Ing, national director of the Green New Deal Network. “You can’t pretend to be progressive on climate while going backwards.” Context matters: Donald Trump has attacked Harris’ energy record, including her 2019 support of a fracking ban, asserting that her policies would boost inflation. In response, Harris has pointed out that oil and gas production has soared, even as the Biden administration makes historic investments in clean energy. And she has highlighted the climate law’s requirement for new oil leases — a provision inserted by Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) — to prove that she is no longer against fracking. Fracking, a central reason that the U.S. is the world’s largest oil producer, is supported by industry and unions in shale gas-rich Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the election. “You have to put Harris in the context of who she’s running against,” said Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “I also don’t know how far a presidential candidate would get running on a platform of a very specific plan to phase down or stop production of oil and gas in the United States.”
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