Last night’s CNN town hall was no different. Even Anderson Cooper accused Biden of “trying to have it both ways” on the issue.

“Well, fracking has to continue because we need a transition,” Biden said in response. “We’re going to get to net-zero emissions by 2050, and we’ll get to net-zero power emissions by 2035.”

Biden added “there’s no rationale to eliminate, right now, fracking,” and he acknowledged the jobs provided by the natural gas industry, both directly at wells and indirectly such as iron and steel workers. He also touted his plans to put 250,000 people to work plugging thousands abandoned oil and gas wells.

But Biden’s comments aren’t likely to change anything: The Trump campaign and other Republicans aren’t going to let up accusing Biden of being anti-fracking, a message they hope will resonate with voters in fossil fuel-heavy swing states like Pennsylvania (where Biden was speaking from Thursday).

Some Republican politicians aren’t entirely convinced Biden wouldn’t eventually bar fracking, either. Biden’s climate policy plans would bar new fossil fuel leasing on federal lands and waters. That’s not an outright fracking ban and wouldn’t have a huge impact on U.S. production (most fracking happens on private lands), but for many Republicans and companies, it’s still an attack on the fossil fuel industry and U.S. natural gas.

Left-wing environmentalists, meanwhile, will never see eye-to-eye with Biden on fracking, especially if he considers natural gas a “transition” fuel. They aren’t likely to let up pressure on him to take a stronger stance on phasing out fossil fuels altogether.

Biden slightly distanced himself from the Green New Deal: When pressed by Cooper on the sweeping climate policy plan championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Biden said he didn’t think it was “too much,” but clarified he has his “own deal” on climate change.

“It requires for us to move in a direction to fundamentally change the way in which we deal with environment,” Biden said of his plans.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe) and Abby Smith (@AbbySmithDC). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

MEANWHILE…SECOND TRUMP TERM TO ‘AGGRESSIVELY’ PUSH GAS INFRASTRUCTURE: The U.S. has largely solved its energy production and supply problem with cheap, abundant natural gas, but the industry has an infrastructure problem, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette says.

“We need more pipelines. We need more export facilities. We have to improve our permitting processes, so that we can allow this infrastructure to be built more quickly, more efficiently” Brouillette said Thursday during a Natural Gas Summit hosted by the agency. “The product has no value without its ability to get to market….so we must work much more aggressively to get that done.”

During the two-hour-plus summit, Brouillette and other Trump administration officials, including National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, took a bit of a victory lap on deregulatory actions they say have helped break down barriers to energy production and development. They also asked officials from natural gas trade groups and companies what more they should be doing in a second term to boost the fuel.

Taking aim at left-wing environmentalists: Kudlow, who moderated a panel on domestic natural gas issues, teed up multiple questions blasting environmentalists and Democrats for wanting to get rid of what he said was a “relatively clean” fuel.

Brouillette, pointing to rolling blackouts in California last month, said environmentalists won’t acknowledge that renewable energy is “completely dependent” on baseload power from fossil fuels like natural gas, as well as nuclear energy, to keep the lights on.

“It is fundamentally wrong at this point in time, in my view, to have a state or to have a country adopt a 100% renewable policy,” Brouillette added.

BP’S SHIFTING LOBBYING STRATEGY: BP CEO Bernard Looney says the oil major is working to make sure every part of its business is lobbying consistent with the company’s new ambition to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, which the company outlined in more detail this week.

“We’re very, very clear we will not lobby against or we will not lobby in a way which is inconsistent with our net-zero ambition, even if that means potentially inflicting pain on our existing business,” Looney said on the Outrage and Optimism podcast released Friday. The podcast is hosted by former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, UN climate lobbyist Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Carbon Disclosure Project founder Paul Dickinson.

Looney suggested things don’t “turn on a dime” with a company as big as BP, so there still might be some inconsistencies, but he said the company is working to align all of its lobbying with net-zero emissions by 2050. That includes lobbying for climate policies like a regional transportation climate effort in the U.S. and accelerating an internal combustion engine ban in the United Kingdom, Looney added.

What about trade associations? Looney said BP is making judgments about which to remain in and which to leave. Earlier this year, BP cut ties with the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the Western States Petroleum Association, and the Western Energy Alliance over climate policy, but it remains in groups like the American Petroleum Institute.

“Is every trade association saying exactly what we want to say? Probably not, but we have to take things in the mix,” Looney said. “Some trade associations do an awful lot of work on safety regulations as an example. … Life, as you all know, is not black and white.”

EPA ELIMINATION OF METHANE CONTROLS ON HOLD FOR NOW: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily paused the EPA’s rollback of methane limits for oil and gas operations while it considers a longer-term hold.

A coalition of environmental groups earlier this week asked the court to keep the methane rollback from going into effect until judges determine whether it is legal. Twenty state attorneys general have also challenged the EPA’s move, which eliminates direct regulation of the potent greenhouse gas from new oil and gas operations.

CHENEY SEEKS DOJ PROBE OF ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS: Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney is calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether major environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council are subject to any foreign interference or targeting.

Cheney, in a letter to Attorney General William Barr made public this week, suggested the environmental groups are “low-hanging fruit for Russian influence or support efforts” because their “anti-fracking agendas align with the Kremlin’s.” She also raised questions about NRDC’s work in China, which she said makes the group a “high-value target.”

SEA LEVEL COULD RISE 15 INCHES MORE IF WARMING CONTINUES: Melting in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could lead to more than 15 inches of global sea level rise by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, according to new research led by NASA scientists.

Those 15 inches would be in addition to sea level rise that’s already locked in by current warming, the researchers say. For example, melting of the Greenland ice sheet is already estimated to contribute roughly a quarter-inch of sea level rise by 2100.

The Rundown

E&E News Meet the man who told Trump climate change is real

Politico Q&A: Daniel Yergin, oil sector doyen

CNBC Big potential, but challenges to overcome: A look at offshore wind in the U.S.

Calendar

TUESDAY | SEPT. 22

10 a.m. 366 Dirksen. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on offshore energy technologies.

WEDNESDAY | SEPT. 23

10 a.m. 106 Dirksen. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing on legislation to amend the Endangered Species Act.