The Eco-Left’s Proposed Fracking Ban Ignores the Facts

February 5, 2020

Last week, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill that would ban fracking by 2025. The legislation would immediately prevent federal agencies from issuing permits for expanded fracking, new pipelines, new natural gas or oil export terminals, and other gas and oil infrastructure. Unsurprisingly, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is now spearheading a House version of this legislation that would limit economic opportunity and destroy American jobs.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez stated that:

The science is clear: fracking is a leading contributor to our climate emergency. It is destroying our land. It is destroying our water and it is wreaking havoc on our communities’ health.

In reality, the science is not clear at all. The only thing made clear by this proposed legislation is that the eco-left has not changed their approach of prioritizing political talking points over real-world results.

The expansion of fracking has actually improved the environment by replacing other forms of energy that emit more carbon. In fact, in 2015, largely thanks to hydraulic fracturing and the resulting increased use of natural gas, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions were the lowest since the early 1990s.

This is not even to mention the economic and day-to-day realities of AOC’s dangerous proposal. A spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute stated:

Banning a safe, successful method of developing energy would erase a generation of American energy progress and in the process destroy millions of U.S. jobs, spike household energy costs and hurt farmers and manufacturers.

The far left has long been hell-bent on destroying the American energy industry, as Power the Future has noted many times before. These efforts are only going to intensify as the election year progresses, and it is our responsibility to remember the real facts of the situation: a fracking ban would take away millions of jobs, sacrifice billions of dollars in revenue, raise energy costs for families, and considerably reduce American energy security. It has never been more important to defend this all-important industry.