Solely Congress can prohibit hydraulic fracturing and solely on federal lands, however an administration could make allowing extra arduous and costly.
Who will and who gained’t ban fracking has emerged as a supply of competition inside the broader power coverage debate within the 2024 presidential marketing campaign pitting Democrat nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in opposition to Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.
A lot of this dialogue lacks a nuance voters ought to perceive.
Whereas a president can’t situation an government order to unilaterally ban hydraulic fracturing to extract pure fuel and oil from deep shale formations, an administration has the capability to impose regulatory restraints that might make it tougher and costly.
“No, a president doesn’t have the facility to ban fracking,” mentioned Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Denver-based Western Power Alliance, which represents unbiased oil and pure fuel corporations throughout 9 intermountain states.
To “ban” hydraulic fracturing, a president would wish laws from Congress and it might solely apply to federal public lands, oil and fuel business representatives verify.
“What can a president do in Pennsylvania? Straight, not a lot,” Pennsylvania Unbiased Oil & Fuel Affiliation President Dan Weaver instructed The Epoch Occasions. “We aren’t drilling on federal lands so [the federal government] can’t management permits.”
Doing so would invite the Fifth Modification “taking” lawsuits from landowners, Weaver mentioned.
What a president’s administration can do, Sgamma instructed The Epoch Occasions, particularly with a compliant Congress, is slap guidelines and laws on fossil gasoline extraction that might not solely be carried out on federal lands but additionally apply to frackers on state and personal lands.
“They’ve tons of of regulatory levers that they will use,” Sgamma mentioned, and Harris has an in depth document of “hostility to the oil and fuel business.”
Regardless of saying throughout her 2020 presidential marketing campaign “There’s no query I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris mentioned she has no plans to take action throughout her Sept. 10 debate with Trump.
“Let’s speak about fracking as a result of we’re right here in Pennsylvania,” she mentioned throughout the debate. “I cannot ban fracking. I’ve not banned fracking as vice chairman of america.
Former President Donald Trump (L) and Vice President Kamala Harris shake fingers previous to the presidential debate on the Nationwide Structure Heart in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photographs
He Mentioned, She Mentioned
Trump mentioned throughout the debate that Harris would ban fracking “on day one” and if he had been in workplace the final 4 years, there would have been “4 occasions, 5 occasions” extra oil and fuel drilling permits issued.
Harris has constantly touted these home oil manufacturing information throughout her time period and her “pragmatic stance” on fracking, shifting from her earlier place throughout her 2020 presidential marketing campaign.
A president solely has authority granted by the Structure or delegated by Congress. Since Congress hasn’t given the chief government the facility to ban fracking unilaterally, a president can’t accomplish that.
In March 2015, the Obama administration imposed new regulatory development requirements and disclosure necessities for fracked wells on federal public lands, designed to discourage fracking.
Underneath the rule, the U.S. Inside Division’s Bureau of Land Administration required lease operators to improve leakage requirements and supply knowledge on chemical substances utilized in fracking on federal land.
The rule was overturned when a federal decide in Wyoming decided federal businesses lacked the authority to set fracking laws for federal and Indian lands with out congressional approval.
Fracking operations at a effectively pad overlying the Marcellus Formation in Pennsylvania, 2012. Stanford College, Rob Jackson /AP Picture
All About Guidelines and Rules
The Biden administration withheld public land leases and delayed offshore leasing auctions for greater than two years till it revised laws and costs for lease auctions.
Underneath the brand new rule, the minimal royalty fee for oil generated from federal lands additionally rose to 16.67 p.c from 12.5 p.c of income. It’s akin to royalty charges assessed by states and personal landowners.
These charges don’t have an effect on present federal public lands and offshore leases, however will after they’re developed sooner or later, business representatives comparable to Sgamma preserve.
Though a president doesn’t have the authority to ban fracking, some consider Harris, who mentioned her stance on the problem is “pragmatic,” would improve regulatory scrutiny on oil and fuel if elected.
“We might absolutely count on a Harris-Walz administration to maintain the Biden-Harris administration’s hostility” to fossil gasoline improvement, Sgamma mentioned.