Amanda Eversole, vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, tells The Bottom Line why her organization invited Vice President Kamala Harris to meet with energy industry leaders.
Kamala Harris’ seemingly skillful stance on the debate stage surrounding fracking and oil production has energy experts doubting whether her administration has really changed its perspective.
“Given the fact that she supports net zero – it’s on every single letterhead, in every executive order – you can’t infer that she supports fracking,” Gabriella Hoffman, director of the Independent Women’s Forum Center for Energy and Conservation, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
“She was sort of caveating in her non-response by saying we’ve promoted a lot of leasing,” she continued. “And that tells me and all other observers in the energy space that they’re not really inviting a culture… I think it’s politically opportunistic.”
During the ABC News presidential debate on Tuesday night, Harris was asked by one of the moderators about her back and forth stance on hydraulic fracturing between her first and second candidacies.
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The Vice President responded that her “values have not changed on this issue,” that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) had “opened up new leases for fracking,” and that the Biden-Harris White House had seen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has not provided an “answer” to her stance on fracking and oil production, Gabriella Hoffman, director of the Independent Women’s Forum Center for Energy and Conservation, told Fox News Digital. (Getty Images)
Hoffman cited data from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management showing that under President Biden, there has been a massive decline in the number of acres of land offered for oil and gas leases each year compared to the first three years of the Trump administration.
“Demand is the biggest driver of production. I think people forget that, including the vice president,” the energy director explained. “The reason Vice President Harris is advocating for Biden to increase and maintain production is because there are checks and balances on other measures that come from the regulatory side, from legislation.”
“President Biden said he would ban fossil fuels, but he can’t because of checks and balances. I see the opposite happening. She’s saying this to see if she can win in Pennsylvania because she knows fracking is a very sensitive issue,” she added.
Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, argues against a ban on fracking and explains what oil producers want to hear from Kamala Harris’ energy program.
Fracking is the drilling process used to extract natural gas from the ground. It involves removing mainly sand and water to get to the deposits. According to Hoffman, this only requires an eighth of a hectare of land.
Their political center also reportedly tracks the number of new federal oil leases on land and at sea each year, claiming there are “fewer” new leases now than at the end of Trump’s term.
“The IRA is a boon to so-called green energy, namely solar and wind on a large scale. That’s why that energy was chosen over oil and gas. And while there may have been some protections for that,” she noted, “it applies to existing oil and gas leases and does not invite new oil and gas leases.”
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum discusses President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ energy policies on “The Bottom Line.”
“If the Biden-Harris administration were actually overseeing the largest oil and gas production in history, it would not be tapping the Strategic Oil Reserve, which is an emergency reserve. It would not be asking Venezuela, OPEC or other countries to increase their production so we could buy from them. We would not see higher prices at the pumps and on our electricity bills if such an event were to occur.”
“But as I said, because this is driven by supply and demand and despite our regulatory environment, we continue to see production on existing leaseholds, not new ones.”
Although former President Trump championed environmental protection and energy efficiency during his time in office, Hoffman believes he did not bring this to the forefront during last night’s debate.
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“Varney & Co.” host Stuart Varney analyzed the appearances of Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and the ABC News moderators at the presidential debate in Philadelphia.
“He has not had the opportunity to explain his case for pursuing a sensible, balanced and environmentally conscious approach to energy production that also offers plenty of recreational opportunities and opens up more public lands for a variety of uses beyond oil and gas production,” the IMF’s energy chief explained.
“He should have emphasized that more. I thought that was a missed opportunity, but I hope that in a future debate he can emphasize that with an energy-friendly agenda you can also advocate for nature conservation on federal land. He missed an opportunity.”
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