Kamala Harris’s silent fracking flip-flop

Here is the simple question: Was Vice President Kamala Harris lying about her position on fracking in 2019, or is her campaign lying now? 

Every American deserves to know the answer. So far, a sympathetic media supposedly charged with holding truth to power is allowing her to stay silent.

By now, everyone knows that while running for president five years ago, Harris was adamant about fracking. “There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking,” Harris told a climate crowd during the CNN town hall.

A lot of things have changed since 2019, but it is not clear if Harris’ position on fracking is one of them.

Fracking is a method of extracting oil and natural gas and, fun fact, it was once heralded by Barack Obama.

The fracking question still remains even after the Harris campaign took a chapter out of “Profiles of Cowardice.” Sensing the political headache from Harris’ 2019 position, an anonymous staffer waited until late one summer Friday to tell a single outlet she really didn’t mean it. No direct quote and nothing from Harris herself. 

The clandestine nature of the fracking flip-flop raised more questions. And so, less than 72 hours later, the Harris campaign tried a new strategy: blame former President Donald Trump for Kamala Harris’ position.

“Harris campaign pledges she won’t ban fracking after Trump accusation,” screamed the new headline. The fact that Trump had pointed out something that Harris said at least twice, unequivocally, on camera was now an “accusation” or “allegation.” 

This time, Team Harris had a direct quote saying, “Trump’s false claims about fracking bans are an obvious attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class.” 

In a world where the media drools over supposed fact-checking, they let yet another anonymous campaign staffer pretend that a candidate's clearly stated position was instead a “false claim.” Such is the media environment that helps the newly minted nominee.

Here's a radical idea: Instead of allowing the presumptive nominee of a major party to use anonymous staffers to flip-flop on a major issue 100 days before the election, why don't they demand Harris explain her position herself?

To ban fracking would impact billions of dollars in revenue, destroy thousands of jobs and drive up the cost of everything. An heck, even if you are a die-hard, glue-yourself-to-the-highway, throw spaghetti sauce on the Mona Lisa eco-warrior, wouldn’t you want to know Harris’ real position on fracking?

It is more than a little odd that many of the major environmental groups are so quiet as their preferred candidate flip-flops to embrace fracking. As of this writing, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the Sunrise Movement are suspiciously quiet. They are not alone.

Two states that benefit most from fracking, Pennsylvania and New Mexico, both have strong Harris supporters running for reelection to the Senate. Neither Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) or Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) are demanding to know if Harris’ flip-flop is genuine. And acting as expected, the media has yet to ask either of them about it.

Harris’ campaign would have us believe she has simply changed position on a major issue facing our economy 100 days before an election. As Joe Biden’s vice president, she strongly supported every anti-energy order from the White House and we deserve to know why she changed her thinking, or whether she really didn’t.

Was it her views on fracking that changed, or was it the polls and her political imperative? 

Larry Behrens is the communications director for Power The Future. He is the author of the book “Sabotage: How Joe Biden Surrendered American Energy Independence.”