Donald Trump doesn’t understand what he means when he says he supports local bans on fracking, said Rep. Kevin Cramer, a close confidante to Trump on energy matters.
“I don’t know if it was a misstatement, but I think it’s probably more like a misunderstanding of the juxtaposition of local control and private property rights,” the North Dakota Republican said in an interview released Monday. “State regulation and state primacy is one thing, sort of the checkerboard potential of municipal referendum is quite another.”
Cramer was interviewed by the energy market news company S&P Global, which asked him about Trump’s previous statements supporting local bans on the oil and gas extraction method known as fracking. The process uses a mixture of sand and water to fracture shale rock deep within the earth to release oil and natural gas. The practice has made the U.S. a leading global producer of oil and fossil fuels.
Oil and gas mogul Harold Hamm, who is also an energy adviser to Trump, said after the Republican nominee made the comments in July that Trump does not support placing a ban on fracking.
Trump himself, however, has not commented on his statement to a Colorado television program in July where he said he supported proposed local bans on the practice.
Trump is generally seen as supportive of the oil and gas industry and the fracking boom that has made the U.S. a leading oil and gas producer. His supporters say his rival, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, wants to roll back fossil fuel production and the jobs fracking creates by banning the practice. That’s why his comments on the matter are seen as inconsistent with the policy he is trying to convey.
Cramer said he hasn’t been able to talk to Trump directly about the comments, but would encourage him to explain precisely what he meant. “I don’t know if he’s clarified that or not, but that’s where I would encourage him to have some clarification,” he said.
“I have not talked to him personally about that, I’ve talked to some in his policy shop for more clarification on that issue, but I think there’s constitutional questions, I think, about whether or not a municipality can ban [fracking],” Cramer said. “Reasonable regulation is one thing, but banning something that violates somebody’s opportunity on their own property I think is a bigger problem.”
