Anderson Cooper challenged Joe Biden on his position on fracking, accusing the Democratic presidential nominee of trying to play to multiple sides of the fracking debate.
“You said you won’t ban fracking but that you wanted to gradually move away from it, ultimately. It sounds like, to some, you are trying to have it both ways,” the CNN anchor said during a town hall for Biden on Thursday. “Politically, it’s understandable why you might say that, but if fracking contributes to climate change and climate change is an existential threat, why should it, fracking, continue at all?”
Biden had just told a Pennsylvania worker at the town hall that he supports the continuation of fracking within safe guidelines, adding that it is an important industry for the state.
“Well, fracking has to continue because we need a transition,” Biden said in response to Cooper. “We’re going to get to net-zero emissions by 2050, and we’ll get to net-zero power emissions by 2035. But there is no rationale to eliminate, right now, fracking.”
Despite Biden’s official position that he would not ban fracking if elected president, President Trump’s campaign has attacked Biden by claiming he does not support fracking by pointing to his previous statements during the Democratic primary that were hostile to the practice.
