In Pennsylvania, Harris can't shake her anti-fracking past

[Ramsey Barner]

Many of the swing voters here whose livelihoods rise and fall with the fortunes of the fossil energy industry have not forgotten the last time Harris ran for president, when she called for a ban on fracking — extracting natural gas by creating cracks in the earth’s bedrock. It is a position she now disavows. Even the boom in oil and gas production under the Biden-Harris administration is failing to assuage anxieties that the halcyon days of fracking for natural gas here would dim if Harris wins the White House.

Pennsylvania’s standing as one of the world’s largest sources of natural gas is creating mounting tension for Democrats aiming to keep it as a pillar in their electoral “Blue Wall” while also stepping up the energy transition. Harris, a Californian with a deep record of clashing with the oil and gas sector, may face a tougher path than Joe Biden did in 2020. Scranton native Biden, who is perceived as more centrist, won Pennsylvania by just 81,000 votes.

The natural gas industry’s reach in this state is expansive. It has brought shiny office parks, bustling new residential subdivisions and manicured golf courses to areas that had earlier been defined by emptying downtowns and steady layoffs. Some 200,000 landowners in the state are receiving royalties from the natural gas wells on their property, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group. Some of the biggest royalty checks are going to local governments and school districts.

Now, with polls showing Pennsylvania is a toss-up, her campaign says the candidate’s past talk of bans is old news and is being misrepresented by her rival, Trump. In a statement, the Harris campaign did not explain the candidate’s shift in thinking but did say that domestic energy production is far higher under the current administration than it was when Trump was president, and that more energy jobs were created by this White House.

[More at link]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/08/13/kamala-harris-fracking-pennsylvania-climate/