Joe Biden reiterated Monday he won’t ban fracking if elected president.
“I’m not for banning fracking. Let’s say that again. I’m not for banning fracking — no matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me,” Biden said during a speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a key swing state and hub for the natural gas fracking boom.
The Trump campaign has been running local television ads in Pennsylvania saying that Biden will ban fracking.
Biden has only promised to end new fracking leases on federal lands, where only 13% of natural gas was produced in 2017. But he has struggled to overcome a gaffe during an exchange with Bernie Sanders in a March debate, in which Biden declared, “no new fracking.”
A recent CBS poll found Pennsylvania voters almost evenly split, along party lines, on supporting or opposing fracking.
