Kamala Harris faces a problem in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where gas drilling rigs and well pads dot the rolling green farmland. Ask Mickey Molinaro, an asphalt worker with a bushy beard and easy-going smile. Harris, in her last White House run, called for a ban on fracking, before reversing her stance this year.
Fracking helped Molinaro survive the Great Recession. The oil and gas extraction process triggered an economic boom in southwestern Pennsylvania, bringing him steady work paving access roads for energy companies. A former Donald Trump voter, Molinaro, 50, says he's undecided about the upcoming election, put off by the ex-president's personality.
But Harris' energy policies push him away. "Energy is a big deal here," Molinaro said, leaning against his truck, tar coating his jeans. "Harris supports the Green New Deal and that kind of stuff .
She runs on a platform that's anti-fossil fuel." To win in this highly competitive battleground state, Harris will have to overcome that baggage. No matter that her campaign insists she doesn't want to ban fracking.
Harris has not yet spelled out how she would treat the oil and gas industry should she win the presidency, and in the absence of a new approach the old one could cost her votes. Picking the state's popular Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, as her running mate could have helped. He staked out a middle ground on fracking, requiring companies to disclose the chemicals they use in the process but rejecting calls to ban it.
Instead, Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who pushed through a climate law forcing his state to get all its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040. "She really needs to explain what her point of view is, what her plan and direction would be," said Jeff Nobers, executive director of the Builders Guild of Western Pennsylvania, many of whose members work in the energy industry.
"My question to her is what has changed that makes you say you don't support a ban on fracking, because fracking hasn't changed." Analysts consider winning Pennsylvania a necessity for Harris, and it won't be easy. President Joe Biden took the state in 2020 by less than 81,000 votes out of nearly 7 million cast.
Trump won it in 2016 by an even slimmer margin — just over 44,000 votes. Trump currently holds less than a 1-point lead in the state, according to an average of several polls calculated by RealClear Polling. Washington County, just southwest of Pittsburgh, sits atop the Marcellus shale formation, which turned Pennsylvania into the nation's second-largest producer of natural gas.
The county reliably picked Democratic presidential candidates until it flipped in 2008, when it began backing Republicans, giving Trump 61% of the vote in 2020. Much of southwestern Pennsylvania underwent a similar shift, and fracking played a role, said Berwood A. Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College.
"The anti-fracking position Democrats were taking ran counter to some of the best economic news in those counties in a long time," Yost said. During her short-lived 2019 presidential campaign, Harris called for a fracking ban and pitched a $10 trillion climate plan that sought 100% carbon-neutral electricity by 2030. Her proposal would have put a price on carbon emissions and halted new fossil-fuel leases on public lands while phasing out existing ones.
Trump now attacks those positions in campaign rallies and ads. "Remember, Pennsylvania, I said it: she wants no fracking. She's on tape," Trump said at a campaign rally in Minnesota late last month.
"The beautiful thing about modern technology is when you say something, you're screwed if it's bad." In response, the Harris campaign pointed to Harris' record as vice president, which includes casting the tie-breaking vote on Biden's signature climate law. That law, the campaign said, helped trigger a manufacturing boom that created 300,000 jobs in the energy sector.
"Vice President Harris is focused on a future where all Americans have clean air, clean water, and affordable, reliable energy while Trump's lies are an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executive at the expense of the middle class," the campaign said. Pennsylvanians' views on energy could determine the balance of the U.S.
Senate as well, now narrowly controlled by Democrats. Republican businessman Dave McCormick, who is challenging Democratic Senator Bob Casey, made a recent appearance at a Warren County well pad, accusing Casey and Harris of wanting to ban fossil fuels. Casey, however, says he supports fracking.
"The people of our state know my position on that issue," Casey said in an interview. "We've supported it my whole time in the Senate, have been a strong advocate for it. It's important for our state.
" Public support for fracking in Pennsylvania is not uniform. A 2020 survey conducted by YouGov found support evenly split, though Pennsylvanians who live in rural areas or identify as Republican were more likely to back it. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
