Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden has a shaky and inconsistent record on fracking. His running mate, Kamala Harris, recently claimed in the Oct. 7th vice presidential debate that Biden “will not ban fracking” in spite of past promises to do just that. The science is clear: fracking threatens the health of the American people and deserves a swift ban. Biden should commit himself to banning the practice if elected president or risk falling on the wrong side of history.
Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a process through which natural gas is extracted from deep within the earth. Holes are drilled hundreds of meters into bedrock, where porous rock is fractured via water, sand and potent chemicals to release the enclosed natural gas. The use of the fracking method has greatly increased in the past 10 years in the United States, causing many to call into question the ethics and voice environmental concerns.
According to the 2019 Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Global Public Health Report, one concern is that deadly chemicals used in the extraction process can infiltrate groundwater and air supply and contaminate local communities. Other physical hazards include radiation, which can be released from naturally occurring substances, and the man-made earthquakes fracking can produce.
If one wonders why Biden is so hesitant to lay down a firm policy on this detrimental practice, look no further than the root cause of most political strife: economics.
Pennsylvania, a key swing state, is home to some of the biggest fracking operations in the U.S. Twenty percent of the country’s total natural gas output comes from the state, surpassed only by Texas, according to Forbes. If fracking were banned, Pennsylvania would lose a giant source of revenue, including money acquired through the state’s revenue tax on natural gas extraction.
It is no wonder that Biden has been contradictory on fracking—the issue is close to the hearts of residents in a state that could determine the election, and Republicans are already eager to paint Democrats as destroyers of tradition and community. The Biden campaign has decided, in response, to appeal to these communities through the issue of fracking.
House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) tweeted during the VP debate, “fracking is bad, actually,” in response to Harris’ comments. If this does not sound like the sweeping condemnation leftists would hope for, that’s because it isn’t. Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most fervent supporters of climate change policy and the writer and sponsor of the Green New Deal, yet even this plan does not mention fracking explicitly.
It is clear that the Democratic Party is wary of addressing fracking in light of its potential economic impact. Though this fear is understandable, we must require that our politicians act in spite of fear and in favor of policies that benefit Americans rather than putting them in harm’s way. Every day that fracking is still allowed in the U.S. is another day where families in states like Pennsylvania and Texas risk exposure to harmful chemicals, radiation, earthquakes and pollution.
The most frustrating aspect of this issue is that Democrats and Joe Biden are aware of fracking and its dangers, yet they choose to ignore its impact for what is politically beneficial. Tremendous public pressure must be put on our elected officials to ban fracking, and the issue can no longer be swept under the rug in favor of headline-catching policy ideas.