The Facts on Fracking

Press Release

Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" has transformed America's economy, created millions of jobs, and enabled us to become more energy secure that at any point in our nation's history. Threats from the left to ban or punitively overregulate fracking would put our energy independence at risk and do further damage to our economy as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The oil and gas industry supports roughly 12.3 million jobs across the United States. In states like Pennsylvania, for example, state data show there are between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs directly supported by the natural gas industry. Fracking also supports U.S. clean energy goals and helps to reduce emissions. In fact, according to a recent report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy-related CO2 emissions in the U.S. fell 2.8% last year as many utilities replaced coal and heating oil with cleaner and less expensive natural gas. This expanded use of natural gas has accounted for 60 percent of lowered CO2 emissions over the last decade.

Banning or overregulating fracking could also severely impact America's energy security. As the COVID-19 pandemic highlights, we must strengthen our domestic supply chains and reduce our reliance on foreign nations.

Unfortunately, we've seen Democrats like former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) bring radical proposals that would ban fracking into the mainstream. In March of this year, Biden said "no new fracking." On a separate occasion he said, "Look in my eyes. I guarantee you we're gonna end fossil fuels." Senator Harris also said during a climate town hall "there's no question that I am in favor of banning fracking."

This call to ban fracking has become the mainstream position of the Democrat party. During the recent vice presidential debate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) tweeted that "Fracking is bad, actually." Earlier this year, not one House Democrat voted for a Republican effort to ensure states could regulate their own fracking on private lands. The measure also included a provision that said the president should not declare a moratorium on the use of fracking. Last year, House Democrats blocked a resolution to affirm the power of states to regulate fracking from being considered on the House floor.

Unfortunately, we've seen what can happen when an industry is nearly regulated out of existence. Former Vice President Biden knows this well; after all, the Obama-Biden Administration's War on Coal cost some 83,000 American jobs.

During this critical moment for our nation, we must be laser-focused on job creation and economic recovery while we work to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans know that policies that would outright ban or regulate fracking out of existence are the wrong answer for American workers. We can and should be good stewards of the environment, and this is a point on which both parties agree. The question is how we do that, and at what cost to the millions of Americans who are employed thanks to our domestic energy resources.

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