Vice President Kamala Harris has not said much about her position in the oil and gas industry since being named the likely and now official Democratic presidential nominee. Industry observers say this is probably intentional.
Harris’s recent economic plan makes no mention of how to address energy prices, while her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, has repeatedly promised to “drill, baby, drill” to reduce gas and electricity costs.
Earlier this week, Trump criticized Harris at a rally in Pennsylvania after her campaign recently assured her that she would not try to ban fracking, a drilling technology that Harris once opposed when she was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019.
“She’s been against fracking, against drilling, against oil and gas practically since the day she was born,” Trump said during the rally.
“A few months ago she suddenly said, ‘Oh, I’d like fracking.’ No, she doesn’t want fracking.”
The Harris campaign told the AP that Trump’s comments were an “attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class.” The statement followed a Washington Post report that said Trump told oil executives to raise $1 billion for him and that it would be a “deal” because he would roll back Biden’s environmental regulations so much.
A look at Harris’ record shows that she followed more progressive views before her selection as Joe Biden’s running mate. As a senator in 2019, Harris co-sponsored a Green New Deal that aimed to transition the U.S. to 100% clean energy within a decade. That chapter of her career also included her run for president in 2019, during which she said in a debate that year, “There’s no question that I support a ban on fracking.”
Later in the same campaign, this time as a candidate for vice president in 2020, Harris promised that the Biden administration would not ban fracking.
Recent polls from Morning Consult show that the vast majority of voters in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina believe that producing more natural gas and oil could help lower energy and utility costs.
“I think (the Harris campaign) will avoid the issue as much as possible,” said Tim Tarpley, president of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, an industry association. “It wasn’t present at the (Democratic National Convention) in any measurable way. I think that was a tactic.”
“Ultimately, they will not advance some of the more radical and aggressive measures like a fracking ban,” Tarpley added.
Instead, industry observers say, if Harris wins in November, she will likely push for faster implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s most sweeping green energy bill designed to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and other renewable technologies.
Harris cast the deciding vote in passing the IRA two years ago.
“I think there will be a lot of tax breaks and incentives to encourage the expansion of green energy,” Matt Willer, managing director of capital markets and partner at Phoenix Capital, told Yahoo Finance.
Willer also expects more tariffs on fossil fuel production. Earlier this year, the Biden administration increased costs for oil companies drilling on federal lands. The administration also suspended the issuing of new licenses for the export of US liquefied natural gas (LNG), a measure that was later successfully challenged in court by 16 states.
Despite Democratic efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, the United States remains the world’s largest oil producer, with production near its peak. The country is also the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.
During the Biden administration, energy giants posted record profits as oil prices soared amid the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, while deep-pocketed U.S. industry players increased their spending on mergers and acquisitions to $234 billion last year.
Biden has long downplayed the good times for oil companies during his term in office, preferring instead to focus on his green energy efforts.
Although high gasoline prices in 2021 have been fueled by the strategic oil reserve, prices have not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels. The national average price of gasoline was $3.38 on Friday, about $0.47 less than a year ago but still higher than during Trump’s term.
This is one reason why green energy advocates do not believe Harris will try to restrict oil production.
“You’re going to see production continue and (a Harris administration) will not necessarily try to stop that, but 100% try to do it better and do it cleaner and make sure that as long as we’re in this business, we’re among the best,” Samantha Gross, director of energy security and climate initiatives at the Brookings Institution, told Yahoo Finance.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.
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