When it comes to the issue of oil drilling, and especially fracking, the 2020 presidential campaign is coming down to a question of which Joe Biden do you believe? For much of the past year on the campaign trail, Biden has repeatedly come out against fracking, fossil fuels, and oil drilling. Now, as he seeks votes in energy-rich states like Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, Biden insists he's not in favor of banning fracking. His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, repeated that mantra at the recent vice presidential debate, saying "Joe Biden will not ban fracking. That is a fact."
But is it a fact? The Biden campaign's official line now is that he is only against granting new fracking permits on federal lands. But that is not what he said before, when he said things like, "No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill. Period. It ends. Number one."
Kym Bolado, host of In the Oil Patch on KTRH, says Biden's own website still contradicts his new, public claims in support of fracking. "He is still, in some ways, reassuring everyone that he does plan on moving towards green energy, and pretty much putting fracking out of business," she says.
And even if Biden only wants to ban new fracking on federal lands, that alone would be devastating to Texas, according to Bolado. "We (in Texas) would lose hundreds of thousands of jobs overnight, if this is implemented," she tells KTRH.
"Just go to his website, because it's there," says Bolado. "He's not walking away from banning fracking, he's just doing the double talk...but they want to continue the process of outlawing it."