Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden falsely claimed he’s never opposed fracking during Thursday night’s final presidential debate.
“I never said I oppose fracking,” Biden said.
President Donald Trump, however, pushed him on the issue, saying that Biden “said it on tape.”
Despite Trump’s correct announcement, Biden continued to qualify his statements on fracking after moderator Kristen Welker asked the former vice president to clarify.
“I do rule out banning fracking because we need other industries to get ultimately to complete zero omissions by 2025,” he said.
Trump, however, continued to point out Biden’s fracking flip-flop.
“Excuse me — he was against fracking. He said it,” Trump pointed out. “I will show it to you tomorrow. Until he got the nomination, went to Pennsylvania. But you know what, Pennsylvania, he will be against it very soon because his party is against it.”
“Fracking on federal land I said. No fracking on federal land,” Biden continued, but his efforts to scrub his previous statements were made in vain.
Despite Biden and his vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s insistence that Biden never said he opposed fracking, Biden has repeatedly condemned fracking and the fossil fuels industry.
“We would work it out. We would make sure it’s eliminated,” Biden said about coal and fracking from the Democratic presidential debate stage just a few months ago.
SUPERCUT: Biden promises "no more" fracking if he's elected President. pic.twitter.com/iWcsU2Yam8
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) August 31, 2020
“We are going to get rid of fossil fuels,” he also promised from the podium at a New Hampshire rally.
How long before the Washington Post scrubs this?
"Biden indicates from the debate stage that he would ban all fracking" pic.twitter.com/TNv6vZa6nG
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 31, 2020
Harris, a proud co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, which would ban fracking, has also been vocal about her position.
Kamala Harris in a CNN townhall – "There is no question I am in favor of banning fracking,"
She is running on the ticket with Joe Biden. https://t.co/Gvk1iZELnF
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 31, 2020
Biden’s opinions on fracking, as Trump noted during the debate, only recently changed on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh.
Biden discusses his energy plan: "I am not banning fracking. Let me say that again: I am not banning fracking. No matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me." https://t.co/LBywpukq9G pic.twitter.com/B5QXkBoQbt
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 31, 2020
As Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler recently noted in an interview with The Federalist, Biden could claim that he’s against “banning” fracking and still deal serious harm to the oil and gas industry through massive regulations.
“I’ve heard him talking about fracking multiple times, and every time it seems a little different,” Wheeler said. “But you don’t have to ban something if you regulate it to death. And the Obama administration was regulating it to death.”
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