Team Biden says no fracking ban despite VP Pence's claim

The debate over fracking

FOX 26's Greg Groogan has more on fracking as the topic was discussed in the vice presidential debate on Wednesday night.

Beneath the state of Texas, you will find a full 40% of America's oil and one-fourth of its natural gas.

That's a great deal of untapped fossil fuel Vice President Mike Pence believes those topping the Democratic ticket seek to leave in the ground, permanently, killing off hundreds of thousands of jobs.

"I know Joe Biden says differently now, as you do, but both of you repeatedly committed to abolishing fossil fuel and banning fracking," said Pence.

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At Wednesday's debate in Salt Lake City, Senator Kamala Harris pushed back.

"Joe Biden will not ban fracking that is a fact, that is a fact," said Harris, the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.

For those unfamiliar with the term, fracking is the controversial process of drilling into a shale rock formation and injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to force out oil and gas.

And yes, during the primary process candidate Joe Biden appeared to express strong opposition.

During a 2019 debate, Biden was asked if there would be any place for fossil fuels and fracking in his administration.

"No. We would work it out. We would make sure it's eliminated," said Biden.

So which is it?

FOX 26 asked Mike Collier, a senior player in Biden's Texas campaign, to clear up the confusion.

"He has been perfectly consistent. He's been very sincere about this. He's not going to ban fracking. Those that say he will are just trying to manipulate people's thinking. He is not going to ban fracking," said Collier.

Breaking down the vice presidential debate

Political analyst Joe Brettell gives us his take on how the only debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris went.

But many in the "oil patch" like Justin Lurie with the American Petroleum Institute remain convinced Biden's tolerance for fracking is a temporary, political tactic and thousands more Texas energy jobs will be in genuine jeopardy if he's elected.

"There's not one question in the world that these people are telling people what they think people in Pennsylvania want to hear so that they can possibly win some votes but their real agenda, 100 percent, is to end fossil fuels. It cannot be more clear," said Lurie.

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While Biden says he will not ban fracking, he's maintaining his commitment to invest $400 million over ten years in so-called "clean energy" technology and if elected, launch the nation on a path to "net-zero emissions" by 2050.