Kamala Harris Flip-Flops on Fracking Again, Supports Ban on New Drilling

A Kamala Harris campaign aide recently clarified to reporters that the Vice President is opposed to all new fracking, the latest flip-flop from Harris on the campaign trail.

Hydraulic fracking is a key component of modern American energy security which allowed the United States to become an energy-independent nation and which has helped families save billions of dollars in lower energy costs. During Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign, she made clear that she desires to ban fracking altogether. 

“There is no question, I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris said at a town hall event in 2019.

Once Harris began her 2024 presidential campaign and she realized her risk of losing key states like Pennsylvania, which relies heavily on fracking, she flip-flopped on her position to assert herself as an ally of the industry.

“I will not ban fracking. I did not as vice president. In fact, I cast the tie-breaking vote to open up more fracking leases,” she told the Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA-TV at the beginning of October.

Now, Kamala Harris’s campaign has reversed her reversal, with Climate Engagement Director Camila Thorndike telling Politico last week that the Vice President once again opposes any new fracking.

“Just to be clear, Vice President Harris hasn’t said anything that the administration hasn’t already said. She is not promoting expansion. She’s just said that they wouldn’t ban fracking,” Thorndike said. 

This double-speak is a tactic that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and congressional Democrats have employed repeatedly.

When Democrats attempted to ban gas stoves, they argued that it was not truly a ban because they would not be ripping gas stoves out of your kitchen; they would just be implementing regulations that prevent new sales of 95 percent of the gas stoves on the market. In other words, a ban.

When the Biden-Harris administration attempted to ban exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), they argued that it was not truly a ban; it was just a “pause” on export approvals which will last indefinitely as they move toward phasing out fossil fuels. In other words, a ban.

Now, Kamala Harris is arguing that her plan to ban fracking is not truly a ban; it is just a plan to never approve leases for fracking ever again. In other words, a ban.

Make no mistake, these are bans on American energy, no matter what rhetorical tricks are employed. Voters cannot trust Kamala Harris to protect American energy security or to keep energy costs low for American families.

To learn more, watch this video from ATR President Grover Norquist:

Stay tuned to ATR’s Kamalanomics.org for updates.