Trump embraces natural gas in Pennsylvania
Contrasts with others who seek fracking ban
PITTSBURGH — President Donald Trump promoted his support for the natural gas industry Wednesday, making clear on his second visit to Pennsylvania in the past three months that he sees his pro-industry policies as a boost to his chances of winning the battleground state in 2020.
As some of his leading Democratic opponents call for a fracking ban, Trump has been eager to cut a contrast, touting his support for a sector he says brings economic benefits to rural pockets and jobs to construction union workers.
“Today, I’m proud to declare that I’ve delivered on every single promise I made to this conference three years ago and much, much more,” Trump said at an energy conference in Pittsburgh, a corporate hub of activity in the Marcellus Shale, the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir.
Trump reminded the audience that he overturned the Clean Power Plan, put forward by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
“Sounds nice but it wasn’t nice,” Trump said of the plan. “It was a disaster.”
The president also highlighted his decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement.
Trump has argued that the agreement entered into during the Obama years would have restricted the U.S. but allowed foreign producers to “pollute with impunity.”
“My job is to represent the people of Pittsburgh, not the people of Paris,” the president said as the audience cheered.
Addressing the Pittsburgh conference gave Trump the ability to pitch to an industry and a region — western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and West Virginia — that help make up “what some would call his base,” said Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group that’s co-sponsoring the event.
“The president certainly recognizes what a critical role this country is playing in energy, and that this state and region are playing in energy,” Spigelmyer said.
Several Democratic presidential candidates are taking their own political risks on the issue. Backed by environmentalists on the left, some candidates— including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — have broken from the party’s past support for fracking to call for a nationwide ban. More centrist candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden, have declined to go that far.
Trump’s visit Wednesday followed an August rally at a massive ethane refinery being built northwest of Pittsburgh.
“This would have never happened without me and us,” Trump said.
Earlier Wednesday, Biden returned to his hometown of Scranton and cast Trump as a fraudulent populist whose tax policies, economic stewardship and erratic leadership have hurt U.S. workers.
“This administration has no idea what hardworking, decent, ordinary Americans are going through,” Biden said of middle-class struggle in a growing but uneven economy. Elsewhere on the campaign trail:
Trump misspoke about the border wall Wednesday during his visit to Pennsylvania. “We’re building a wall in Colorado, we’re building a beautiful wall, a big one that really works, that you can’t get over, you can’t get under,” Trump said. Colorado doesn’t share a border with Mexico, which the state’s governor, Democrat Jared Polis, and others on social media noted.
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, speaking to reporters after touring a legal pot dispensary in Las Vegas, said Wednesday that he’s used marijuana “a handful of times a long time ago,” and that it’s time for the U.S. to legalize marijuana.
MSNBC announced Wednesday that four women will moderate the Democratic debate on Nov. 20, which is being co-hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post. The moderators will be Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker and Ashley Parker.
A man was charged with felony assault for allegedly punching another man outside Trump’s campaign rally in Minneapolis earlier this month. Prosecutors charged 31-year-old Dwight Pierre Lewis of Richfield with third-degree assault on Wednesday. His first court appearance is Thursday and it’s unclear if he has an attorney.