The Oil and Gas Industry Fears Fracking Foe Kamala Harris

August 13, 2020

The oil and gas industry was already fearful of a Biden presidency when he rolled out his aggressive $2 trillion climate plan last month. Now, with Kamala Harris as his running mate for the 2020 presidential election, their fears have gotten worse.

The former California attorney general who has vowed to fight the fossil fuel industry in court, supported the Green New Deal, and said there was “no question” she’d ban hydraulic fracturing last September puts her even father to left of Biden on energy policy.

Bloomberg reports:

Biden’s energy agenda was already “setting up to be the greenest in U.S. history,” but adding Harris to the ticket signals the Biden administration would “aggressively” pursue its policy goals, ClearView Energy Partners said in a research note to clients.

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“The oil and gas industry represents about 8% of the American economy,” and is “a very important component of our recovery,” American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers said by phone. “The world looks a lot different behind the desk in the Oval Office than it does on the campaign trail, and we’re an industry that represents 10 million American workers and will be a key part of that recovery.”

Biden’s far-left environmental proposal marks the first-time global warming has emerged as a central plank in the Democratic Party’s presidential campaign. Adding Harris to the ticket brings more worry to the industry that supports 10 million American jobs. In this time of economic uncertainty when unemployment is at an all-time high, this valuable industry is critical to our country’s post-pandemic recovery and should be protected not dismantled.

Kathleen Sgamma, head of Western Energy Alliance said, “Her activity on climate change litigation will continue to drive away the energy industry, … While most of that work is rhetoric, her accusations against an industry that provides 70% of the energy Americans use every day belies the narrative that Biden/Harris would govern in a moderate way.”