Vice President Kamala Harris confidently stated during Tuesday's debate that she would not ban fracking: “I will not ban fracking. I have never banned fracking as vice president of the United States.”
But natural gas workers in western Pennsylvania don't quite believe a woman who ran for president in 2020 and said, “There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking.”
The Democratic candidates' motivation for changing course on fracking is clear: fracking is an economic boon to Pennsylvania, a must-win state in this election.
The Keystone State's natural gas sector supports about 123,000 jobs and contributed more than $41 billion in economic activity in 2022, according to energy economists at FTI Consulting.
Scott Ivey, 49, a service supervisor for Stingray Pressure Pumping, which operates throughout Pennsylvania, said he and his fellow “roughnecks” are vital to western Pennsylvania's economy.
“That's a huge surge in money,” Ivie told The Post. “If you think about the last time I stayed in a hotel, three-quarters of the people staying in the hotel worked in the oil and gas industry. Sometimes it was almost impossible to get a reservation because the hotel was fully booked.”
Sarah Phillips, a petroleum engineer and saleswoman for Gladiator Energy in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, agreed that the town outside Pittsburgh, once home to a thriving coal industry, is helping.
“Just 10 years ago it was rundown. Now it's a huge, vibrant area with restaurants, hotels, bowling alleys and everything you can think of.”
Ryan Bhutia, owner of All Star Sports Bar & Grill in Canonsburg, said most of his customers are roughnecks looking to relax and spend their hard-earned money after a long day of driving.
“Probably around 85 percent,” he told The Post, “which is actually a crazy number. We're based out of three hotels within walking distance of each other.”
Bhutia, whose father opened the bar in 2014 in response to an uptick in fracking business, spoke passionately about how the industry has brought wealth and commerce to the area.
“Many of these people are making a good living. They can support their families and have fun on the weekends on that paycheck. Look at the tax revenue that's generated.”
But people who have built their careers and families on promoting fracking don't trust Kamala Harris to keep her promise not to ban the practice.
“I don't believe anything Kamala Harris says,” Ivey said. “I don't want to get too political, but I do believe that if she were in office, she would regulate fracking so heavily that it would be impossible to do.”
Ivey bases his opinions on what he has seen firsthand during his 12-year career in the natural gas industry under three presidential administrations.
“Since President Biden won, it seems like all the hiring has slowed down. Everything is moving in a greener direction. Electric cars and things that only a select few have.”
While he's grateful for the benefits his career in natural gas has brought him, he's pessimistic about the impact regulation has had on the industry.
“There's not a lot of people working,” he said. “And I'm not just blaming Joe Biden for that, but that's the reality. They're not shutting it down, they're regulating it, they're just making it harder for everybody to work.”
Sarah Phillips noted that construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been delayed for years and cost billions of dollars because environmental groups including the Wilderness Society and Appalachian Voices filed lawsuits to block the pipeline.
“It was because of bribery from the Biden-Harris administration, there was a federal leasing ban. [liquified-natural-gas] “Banning, shutting down power plants, making EVs mandatory,” she said.
Democrats “want net zero [carbon] By 2050, we are essentially against fracking.”
