Vice President Mike Pence accused his Democratic rival of wanting to ban fracking, forcing Sen. Kamala Harris to distance Joe Biden’s climate plan from pressure from progressive Democrats to restrict natural gas.
“They want to abolish fossil fuels and ban fracking, which would cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs all across the heartland,” Pence said during Wednesday’s vice presidential debate.
Pence attempted to emphasize discord between Biden and the more liberal Harris on climate change.
“You yourself said repeatedly that you would ban fracking,” Pence said. “You were the first senator to co-sponsor the Green New Deal,” he added of the sweeping climate resolution championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Harris, however, pushed back, arguing Biden has been “very clear” he won’t ban fracking.
“That is a fact,” she added later in a back-and-forth with Pence.
She repeated Biden’s refrain that their $2 trillion climate change plan would create U.S. jobs in the clean energy sector, and she slammed the Trump administration for raising questions about mainstream climate science.
Pence’s attacks come as Biden has struggled to convey his stance clearly on fracking after a gaffe in a March debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders, where he declared “no new fracking.” Since then, Biden has repeatedly sought to assure union workers in fossil-heavy swing states like Pennsylvania that he would not threaten their jobs by banning fracking.
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has continued to claim Biden is “against” fracking. Pence and President Trump have suggested Biden and Harris, if elected, would bow to pressure from progressive Democrats and environmentalists to move more aggressively to restrict fossil fuel production, including natural gas.
“Fracking is bad, actually,” Ocasio-Cortez retorted in a tweet as Harris and Pence were sparring over the issue.
