by WorldTribune Staff, November 1, 2020
President Donald Trump on Saturday said he signed an executive order aimed at protecting fracking and instructing the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Treasury Department to provide information on how fracking affects the economy, trade and national security.
“Moments ago I signed an executive order to protect Pennsylvania fracking and block any effort to undermine energy production in your state,” Trump told a massive crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania. “So if one of these maniacs come along and say end fracking, I signed it on the beautiful Marine One.”
Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, have vowed to shut down the fracking industry. Though Biden continues to insist that he won’t ban fracking, Democrat Congress members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar have said in recent days they fully expect a Biden administration to end fracking.
Trump noted Biden’s flip-flopping on fracking, a major industry in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.
“He goes for a year ‘there will be no fracking,’ then he comes to Pennsylvania. Listen, we have a million jobs for fracking, we’ve got $2 gasoline,” Trump said. “He’s like ‘let me just change my [position]’ and he’s never questioned about it from the fake news.”
The White House noted in an Oct. 31 statement that, in 2019, the Council of Economic Advisers estimated that fracking and other innovations had reduced energy prices and saved Americans $203 billion per year, or $2,500 each year for a family of four.
“These savings disproportionately benefit low-income households, who spend a large share of their incomes on energy,” the White House said. “Banning or restricting such technologies would increase the prices of gasoline, electricity, heating, and air conditioning. These increases would greatly harm senior citizens, middle- and lower-income Americans, and others on fixed-incomes.”
In addition to assessing the potential effects of fracking restrictions on American jobs and workers, Trump ordered his administration to assess potential effects on consumers, property owners, local governments, schools, hospitals, and medical clinics.
“Reliable, affordable energy is essential to our nation’s well-being, our economic strength and global competitiveness, and our national security,” the White House statement said. “The president is opposed to misguided policies that would take us back to the days of vulnerable dependence on foreign oil and natural gas.”
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has become a net energy exporter for the first time since 1952, with American energy exports reaching an all-time high last year. The United States is now the world’s leading producer of both oil and natural gas.
In 2019, the United States had the largest absolute decline in energy-related CO2 emissions of any country in the world.
“Through his strong leadership and common sense policies, President Trump has proven that energy production and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand,” the White House statement said.
Trump added: “Under my administration, we are no longer beholden to foreign powers or domestic radicals. We are powering our nation on our own terms.”
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