why kamla Harris won't ban fracking during a heated presidential debate on Tuesday night former president Donald Trump repeatedly claimed that kamla Harris would ban hydraulic fracturing fracking if she became president he asserted if she won the election fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one in response Harris clarified I will not ban fracking I have not banned fracking as Vice President of the United States in fact I Was the tiebreaking vote on the inflation reduction act which opened new leases for fracking Trump's claim wasn't entirely without basis as Harris had previously stated during her 2019 presidential campaign there's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking however the reality is more nuanced as I explained in a 2019 article why a ban on fracking will never happen in that piece I pointed out that Harris along with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders had expressed support for a fracking ban even Joe Biden campaigned on no new fracking before adjusting his position to acknowledge the necessity of fracking as part of an energy transition which I detailed in Joe Biden shifts to a realistic fracking stance the truth is political candidates often make statements to appeal to their base whether Harris was pandering or genuinely believed at one point that fracking should be banned there is currently no practical way to stop it fracking which dates back to the late 1940s sparked a US oil and gas production boom when combined with horizontal drilling about 20 years ago this surge in production has made the US the world's leading producer of both oil and natural gas most of this production happens on private land meaning that even if Trump believes otherwise Harris would have no authority to end fracking in Pennsylvania on her first day in office new laws would be required to Halt fracking and given its significant role in US energy production it's highly unlikely Congress