GOP seizes on Biden words on fossil fuels’ future in country

OKLAHOMA CITY — Joe Biden is confronting the harsh political realities of his energy policies.

The Democratic presidential nominee has spent months touting a $2 trillion plan to boost investment in clean energy and stop all climate-damaging emissions from the U.S. economy by 2050.

The plan implied that he would wean the U.S. off oil and gas, but Biden wasn’t so explicit about the industry’s fate — until Thursday night.

During the final moments of the presidential debate, Biden said he would “transition away from the oil industry.”

President Donald Trump immediately sensed an opportunity to appeal to voters in competitive states like Texas and Pennsylvania that produce oil and gas.

“Basically what he is saying is he is going to destroy the oil industry,” Trump said. “Will you remember that, Texas? Will you remember that, Pennsylvania? Oklahoma? Ohio?”

With less than two weeks until the election, Biden’s comment is prompting a sudden test of whether voters who increasingly say they are worried about climate issues will embrace steps to confront them.

Republicans say Biden’s plan would cost jobs.

Biden “just killed paycheck(s) earned by hardworking families in Texas,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, tweeted after Thursday’s final presidential debate saw

Trump and Biden spell out their worlds-apart stances on fossil fuels.

“Joe just wants to transition away from Texas. Remember that on Election Day,” Abbott wrote.

Even some Democrats distanced themselves from Biden’s comment. Rep. Kendra Horn, a Democrat who flipped a Republican seat in Trump-loyal Oklahoma in 2018, tweeted: “We must stand up for our oil and gas industry.”

So did Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, a first-term Democratic congresswoman in a toss-up race in New Mexico, in the oil- and gas-rich Permian Basin.

“We need to work together to promote responsible energy production and stop climate change, not demonize a particular industry,” she tweeted, adding that she was ready to “stand up to” the Democratic Party.

Biden seemed to sense the political peril. Shortly after the debate, he told reporters he wasn’t talking about any kind of fossil fuel ban.

“We’re not getting rid of fossil fuels for a very long time,” he said.

Biden’s energy plan spells out the time frame: three decades, zeroing out greenhouse gas emissions, which realistically would require a substantial cutting of fossil fuel use, by 2050.

Campaigning in Atlanta on Friday, Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, told reporters that he wouldn’t ban fracking, the technique used to extract natural gas.

“You know, the president likes to take everything out of context,” Harris said. “Let’s be clear. What Joe was talking about was banning subsidies, but he will not ban fracking in America.”