Biden is Breaking a Campaign Promise

February 5, 2021

On the presidential campaign trail, much was made of President Biden’s stance on fracking, and for good reason. The natural gas and oil industry provides millions of American jobs and generates billions of dollars in revenue. Particularly right now, as we continue to economically recover from Covid-19, all of this production is more important than ever.

While campaigning, Biden flip flopped multiple times on whether or not he would outright ban fracking. Obviously, this made many Americans skeptical of the legitimacy of any policy position he took. But, despite what Biden said himself, his team always claimed that he would not ban fracking. Clearly, that was just a means of appeasing moderate states and voters.

Fox News reports:

“It is a de facto ban on fracking,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News in an interview about the new order, noting that his state stands to lose 30,000 jobs.

A top energy industry official agreed.

“He explicitly said he wasn’t going to ban fracking,” American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers told Fox News in an interview. “That rings a little bit hollow.”

Biden only has the authority to halt leasing on federal land, so he’s banned fracking to the extent that he can. He may be downplaying the significance of his decision, but the numbers speak for themselves. About 22 percent of American oil is drilled from federal land and waters and about 14 percent of natural gas.

Last year, drilling on federal land generated almost $6 billion in government revenue. This is revenue that we can’t afford to waste, and the natural gas and oil industry is one that we can’t afford to shrink. As of now, though, Biden hasn’t presented any plan for replacing these major means of production.