Vice President Kamala Harris openly lied about her support for a fracking ban during a sit-down interview with CNN—her first since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. Speaking to Dana Bash alongside running mate Tim Walz, Harris was asked, “Do you still want to ban fracking?” Harris falsely claimed she “made [it]t clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking.”
During her failed presidential primary run in 2019, Harris told a CNN town hall there is “no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” vowing she would begin the process on “day one” of a Harris presidency. She bragged this was “something [she had] taken on in California,” where she was a Senator and Attorney General.
She told Bash, “In 2020, I made very clear where I stand” during a debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence. “We are in 2024, and I have not changed that position, nor will I going forward. I kept my word, and I will keep my word.”
However, she did not outline her position on fracking during that debate, merely stating that “Joe Biden will not end fracking” and “the American people know that Joe Biden will not ban fracking.” Harris, not Biden, is running in November.
“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
— Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/zdCTAsrYqW
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 29, 2024
‘MY VALUES HAVE NOT CHANGED.’
Concerningly, for people whose livelihoods depend on fracking, Harris told Bash, “Let’s be clear. My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate.”
This suggests that Harris still supports a fracking ban in principle, as she did in 2019, and would likely work to undermine the industry even if she keeps her word on not implementing an outright ban.
She told Bash that, as Vice President, she was able to implement elements of the radical left Green New Deal she supported as a Senator through the Inflation Reduction Act.
