To Frack or Not to Frack Is Not the Question for Harris

A week before election day, as Pennsylvania looms large as the swing state to win to secure the White House, Kamala Harris has assuaged some concerns about her tolerance of fracking, the predominant method of natural gas extraction that has made the U.S. the largest natural gas producer in the world.

But whether Harris would wholeheartedly support natural gas, including critical pipeline infrastructure to transport that gas for power generation, home heating and export to U.S. allies, is still hazy.

The chief executive for the country’s natural gas pipeline association told Forbes, “I think it’s unclear. I think it’s still unclear,” whether Harris would embrace the natural gas value chain.

“Every politician should be asked how they’re going to build the energy infrastructure, including pipelines necessary to meet this country’s growing energy demand,” said Amy Andryszak, President and CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA).

Andryszak lauded Harris’ new stance on “not banning fracking,” and her recognition that the country needs to reform the process by which pipelines are permitted.

Though permitting reform would require statutory changes driven by Congress, an administration that “leans in on the importance of natural gas,” highlights the value of natural gas and “what a good fuel source it is” would be helpful and supportive to the industry, Andryszak said.

“That tone can be set from the top,” she said.

Natural gas accounts for 43% of U.S. electricity generation, according to the Energy Information Administration.

“Demand for gas is currently outstripping the associated pipeline capacity,” Andryszak said.

Between 2010 and 2022, U.S. natural gas demand increased 45%. That outpaced pipeline capacity growth of only 28%.

Less than an additional 1 billion cubic feet of capacity was added last year, she said.

“What these stats tell us is that demand for natural gas is growing year over year, yet pipeline capacity additions are not keeping up,” Andryszak said.

“If we don’t build more pipelines, then we’re going to have a real mismatch between demand and supply. And that mismatch is only going to continue to grow,” Andryszak said.

She issued a clarion call that the new administration prioritize energy infrastructure expansion to meet the country’s rising electricity demand.

Forbes has reported that in light of AI, data centers, and the energy transition, centered around electrification, electricity demand is growing exponentially.

Half of America Produces Natural Gas

Pennsylvania is the U.S. natural gas powerhouse after Texas, but more than half of U.S. states produce the resource.

In Pennsylvania, fracking supports about 123,000 jobs, and more than $41 billion in economic activity is at stake.

But 37 states extracted natural gas while 19 states, including Harris’ home state of California, produced natural gas by fracking in 2023, according to the EIA.

Most natural gas is used for power generation, and most American households use natural gas for space and water heating, cooking and drying clothes, according to the American Gas Association, which represents 200 companies that deliver natural gas to consumers.

Forbes has reported extensively on the Biden Harris industrial energy policy which invests $1 trillion to grow a new clean energy economy.

While Harris has touted the unprecedented investment, she has also said her administration would not be “a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.”

In her most recent interview with Anderson Cooper, Harris said, “I think that we have proven that we can invest in a clean energy economy. We can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We can work on sustaining what we need to do to protect this beautiful earth of ours and not ban fracking.”

That was music to Andryszak’s ears.

“I do wish the Biden administration would have done more to lean in on the strategic resource we have in natural gas, which I think has been an enabler,” of renewable energy deployment, she said.

The Institute for Energy Research released a list of 250 ways the Biden Harris administration has made it harder to produce oil and gas.

In short, the Biden Harris administration started off by killing the Keystone XL pipeline and imposing a moratorium on all oil and gas onshore and offshore leases.

The administration is ending its tenure with a pause on new U.S. liquified natural gas exports and infrastructure projects.

“If you want renewable sources of energy to come online, you’re going to need natural gas and the associated infrastructure,” Andryszak said. “Nothing compares to natural gas when we’re talking about a complementary, on-demand reliable fuel source.”

The Harris Avatars

Where Kamala Harris comes down on fossil fuels has to date depended on which Harris you ask.

It’s no mystery the presidential hopeful has given the energy industry whiplash.

As a senator, Harris cosponsored the celebrated Green New Deal to eliminate fossil fuels and transition the entire economy to renewable resources.

California Attorney General Harris went after oil and gas majors when she was a prosecutor, and in 2019 Candidate Harris warned oil companies they should prepare to pay massive fines and even criminal prosecutions for their role in climate change should she become president.

Congruent with that position, in 2019, Candidate Harris told CNN, “There’s no question, I am in favor of banning fracking.”

In 2020, once she joined President Biden’s ticket as vice president, Harris said, “Joe Biden will not ban fracking.” President Biden has obviously not banned fracking.

Some observers have said a ban at the federal level would take an act of Congress, not an executive order from the President of the United States. The federal government, could, however, argue that fracking pollutes the environment or threatens human health to impose new restrictions or fines.

Meanwhile, states could initiate their own bans; five states have. California Governor Gavin Newsom, for example, has worked over several years to ban practice in the state.

During the 2024 campaign, since she has been atop the Democratic ticket, Harris has said she would not ban fracking.

“I interpret the vice president’s shift in her position on fracking as her acknowledgment that this country has a growing demand for energy, and natural gas is an abundant and affordable and reliable energy source in the U.S. that has driven decarbonization,” Andryszak said.

A Frenemy of Oil and Gas

Since the campaign kicked off, Harris has boasted about U.S. record oil and gas production.

During her debate against Trump, Harris said the U.S. has seen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil.”

According to the EIA, the U.S. averaged 12.9 million barrels per day produced in 2023 under Biden, breaking the previous U.S. record of 12.3 million barrels per day set in 2019 under former President Trump.

Generally, it takes nearly a decade between an oil and gas investment and the yield.

How much, if any, of the current production under Biden can be attributed to his policies rather than market forces and oil companies’ investments is a matter for analysis and debate.

However, in 2019, Forbes reported that Trump harvested more money for the U.S. Treasury from domestic oil and gas leases than any president in U.S. history.

In a bit of irony, in the name of national security, Forbes reported recently that the Biden Harris administration is helping Iraq increase its oil and gas production and build a pipeline between Iraq and Türkiye.

Over the past four years, there have been some wins for U.S. fossil fuels too.

Though President Biden cancelled seven leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, he is allowing oil giant ConocoPhillips to continue its controversial Willow Project, the biggest new Alaska oil development in decades.

Biden also carved out subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act for oil giants to produce hydrogen from natural gas.