It’s no longer a primary. Tonight, the two US presidential candidates will face off in a debate moderated by ABC, and neither is expected to espouse radical political views – not even on the issue of energy.
Fracking or not fracking?
Today’s debate will hardly end without discussing one of the most debated topics in the energy world: fracking. This topic will likely come up as the Vice President’s policy shift is already being questioned.
“There’s no question that I support a ban on fracking,” Kamala Harris said at the Presidential Town Hall on CNN in 2019. “Yes. And that’s with what we can do on public lands on day one, and then there has to be legislation. But yes, and that’s something I took on in California. I’ve worked on this issue before.”
Harris went even further, arguing during the election campaign in her defense against then-would-be President Biden: “Joe Biden is not going to ban fracking. That’s a fact. That’s a fact.”
Harris’ interview with CNN a few weeks ago showed how much closer to the middle she has come since her attempt to win the highest office in the land failed. “I saw that we can grow and build a clean energy economy without banning fracking,” Harris told CNN interviewer Dana Bash.
The answer to the fracking question depends largely on which voters Harris is courting tonight. Some analysts say the vice president will not need to back down from her strict “no fracking” policy to win Pennsylvania. Others insist that her insistence on a fracking ban will make it impossible for her to win enough voters in Pennsylvania to win the state for her campaign in November.
But both candidates have largely secured the voter base of their own parties. Now the battle for the independents begins.
Approval procedure
The oil and gas industry will likely be watching today’s debate with great interest to see how the candidates – at least at this point in their campaigns – take a stand on the bureaucratic complexity of the permitting processes that continue to hamper major projects such as pipeline construction.
LNG breaks, electric vehicles and lawsuits
Other energy issues include U.S. energy security and its connection to the disruption of LNG export projects, subsidies for electric vehicles and emissions regulations that will affect consumers’ car-buying decisions, and lawsuits against oil companies.
America first
Former President Donald Trump appears to be pursuing energy policies similar to those of his previous campaigns. He would likely end the suspension of permits for the export of liquefied natural gas and expand the scope of drilling auctions under the five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program to push the U.S. toward the lowest energy and electricity costs in the world.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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