2020 Dems on shaky political ground with fracking bans
DENVER — Several Democratic presidential candidates are running on a promise to ban fracking — and stepping on unstable political ground as they do so.
An all-out prohibition on the controversial natural gas extraction process — backed by Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — has been well received by the liberal and climate-focused voters closely watching the primary. But the proposal also threatens to antagonize unions and voters in areas that depend on oil and gas for jobs.
That opposition may be fiercest in some of the states Democrats care about most. Banning fracking could have a dramatic impact on the economy in Pennsylvania, a state Democrats consider a must-win in their pursuit of the White House. It could also jeopardize the party’s hold on Colorado, a swing state trending its way, not to mention Democrats’ dreams of winning statewide in Texas, the headquarters of the energy industry and home to 137,000 natural gas wells.
The candidates’ support for a ban is one of the clearest examples of the party’s move to the left in its 2020 primary. Only a few years ago, President Barack Obama celebrated the benefits of fracking. To address environmental concerns, his administration focused on tighter regulation of fracking on federal land but largely steered clear of the state-level battles over whether the practice was dangerous, dirty or accelerating climate change by encouraging dependence on fossil fuels. Even most environmental groups have advocated for regulation, not an all-out ban.
But climate advocates have enjoyed growing influence in the primary, as the party’s base is increasingly focused on climate change and searching for immediate and meaningful policy solutions — even if the political path for those ideas is unclear.
“To say that you would ban fracking is a very difficult position to take in some key states,” said Rick Ridder, a Democratic strategist who worked as Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign manager and fought fracking in Colorado. “There’s an extremely important distinction between local control and banning something.”
In climate change town halls last week, Harris, Sanders and Warren called for bans on fracking. Others, like former Vice President Joe Biden and the two Texans in the race — Julián Castro and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke — have balked at such a step. The politics of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are highly volatile. The technology has enabled energy companies to drill in previously inaccessible areas, including in suburban neighborhoods where new gas wells can cause opposition that defies traditional partisan lines. Active energy wells can crush property values and fan fears of contaminated drinking water, air pollution and even earthquakes, which some studies link to fracking.