Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s running mate, has made her stance on fracking clear. She wants to eliminate it.
Fracking is a way of extracting natural gas from the ground using a horizontal drilling process that pumps water, sand and chemicals into the ground, fracturing rocks and releasing natural gas.
Her position is similar to that of Biden’s. During a Democratic Party presidential debate on the topic, he said there would be “no more, no new fracking,” under his administration if he is elected.
Harris seems to take it a step further. When she was in the running as a possible presidential candidate for the Democrat Party, she said she would support a fracking ban during a CNN presidential town hall.
“There’s no question, I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris said.
If Biden and Harris ban fracking, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute estimates 19 million Americans jobs would be eliminated between 2021-2025. In addition to losing jobs, the GDP would be reduced by $7.1 trillion.
The Global Energy Institute’s report, which was released in December, predicts energy prices would increase with natural gas prices rising by 324%, if a fracking ban is implemented. A fracking ban would lead to household energy bills to quadrupling and the cost of living to increase by $5,661 for the average American. By 2025, the price of gasoline would double and government revenues would fall by almost $1.9 trillion, according to the report.
Reports show that the state of Pennsylvania would be hit the hardest by a fracking ban. The state could lose more than 600,000 jobs if a ban was implemented.
Pennsylvania wouldn’t be the only state negatively impacted by a fracking ban. Ohio and Colorado would also lose a large number of jobs, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
By 2022, Ohio could lose as many as 500,000 jobs, according to API. In Colorado, more than 350,000 jobs could be eliminated. API estimates that job losses due to a fracking ban could total 7.5 million by 2022. About 2.5 million positions in Texas, California and Florida would be gone. Other states impacted include North Dakota, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, Louisiana, West Virginia and Kansas.
API reports that a fracking ban could result in the country losing progress toward energy security and return to dependence on foreign suppliers of natural gas and oil. A fracking ban could result in farmers seeing their incomes decline 43%. API also estimates household energy costs could increase, on average, $618 per year even while consuming 12% less energy – including higher prices for gasoline, natural gas, electricity and heating oil.
According to API, more than 95% of new natural gas and oil wells drilled are developed with fracking.
(Matzav / Newsmax).