Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Friday that if voters in individual towns or cities want to ban fracking within their borders, he “can understand that.”
Trump is strongly in favor of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as a means to draw oil and natural gas from the earth. But in an interview with 9News in Colorado, Trump said he could get behind local bans on fracking.
Two cities in Colorado had voter-passed initiatives to ban or pause fracking, which involves shooting a mixture of water and other chemicals into layers of rock to release the fossil fuels trapped within. However, the Colorado Supreme Court shot down those bans because they conflicted with state law.
“Fracking is something that we need, fracking is something that’s here whether we like it or not,” Trump said. “But if a municipality or a state wants to ban fracking, I can understand that.”
Trump admitted that he wasn’t well-versed in the specific cases, in which Fort Collins and Longmont voters passed a five-year pause and a ban, respectively, on fracking within city limits. But, he said the will of the people shouldn’t be ignored.
“I’m in favor of fracking, but I think voters should have a big say in it,” Trump said. “I mean, there’s some areas that maybe they don’t want to have fracking and I think if the voters are voting for it, that’s up to them.”
