Progressives Should Cut Harris Slack on Fracking, Says Environmentalist

Progressive Americans unhappy with Vice President Kamala Harris’ about-face on fracking need to ease up, said environmentalist Bill McKibben.

“Look, it doesn’t make me happy, but it’s obvious why we need to cut her slack here,” he said Tuesday in Rhinebeck, New York. “This election’s going to be decided most likely in Pennsylvania. That’s an accident of history that Pennsylvania also happens to have a lot of fracking in it.”

While softer language on fracking may appeal to moderate residents in swing states, it risks disillusioning the climate activists who helped elect President Joe Biden and Harris four years ago. Thus far, however, progressive groups have largely held their fire on Harris’ policy shift. By presenting a united front, they’re trying to avoid the return of Donald Trump, a big backer of fossil fuels, to the White House.

In her prior run for the presidency, Harris said there was “no question” she’d ban fracking if elected. But in her debate this month against Trump, she said she didn’t support a ban anymore and touted how the Biden administration has boosted oil and gas.

Beyond fracking, Harris hasn’t weighed in on whether she would reverse a pause on permitting new plants to export liquefied natural gas, or LNG, that went into effect under Biden.

“One of the problems with this election is that because there were no primaries, there was no way to get candidates on the record” about their LNG plans, McKibben said at the event.