Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20201026

A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 26 OctOber 2020

Trump intensifies fracking assault on Biden in Pennsylvania

wants to make electricity production
free of fossil fuel emissions by 2035
and reach net-zero carbon emissions
in the U.S. by 2050 through technol-
ogies such as carbon capture seques-
tration.

Scientists say it is possible to achieve
net-zero carbon emissions in the
U.S. by 2050 without eliminating the
use of fossil fuels.

But Biden's nearer-term goal of elim-
inating emissions from power plants
is sending a shiver through Pennsyl-
vania's industry because a growing
fleet of natural gas-fired power plants
is a big customer.

It's not clear how many votes are
being decided by Trump's fracking
claims in a contest where the vast ma-
jority of voters had already made up
their minds.

The gas industry has flushed money
(AP) — In a late gambit to win the subsidies for oil and gas to cleaner from a well on their land. into some local economies. But it has
battleground state of Pennsylva- energies. also inspired a backlash in other com-
nia, President Donald Trump and “I do rule out banning fracking be- Trump’s campaign is running its own munities, most notably in Philadel-
his GOP allies have intensified at- cause ... we need other industries to ad this fall featuring a fracking tech- phia's suburbs, and, for many voters,
tacks on Joe Biden over fracking, transition to get to ultimately a com- nician named “Jen” who says Biden it simply doesn't rank as deciding fac-
hoping to drive a wedge between plete zero-emissions,” Biden said in would end fracking and “that would tor in the race.
the former vice president and the Thursday night’s debate. be the end of my job, and thousands Still, in a heavily populated and heav-
white, working-class voters tied of others.” And Great America PAC, ily contested state that Trump won
to the state's booming natural gas For his part, Trump often ridicules which supports Trump, produced an by just over 44,000 votes in 2016,
industry. the science behind increasingly ur- ad calling Biden and Harris “fracking any marginal change, no matter how
gent warnings for immediate action liars.” slight, is significant, campaign strate-
That assault is playing out in a bar- to stave off the worst of climate dam- gists say.
rage of TV ads and conservative and age by cutting fossil fuel emissions. The onslaught is reminiscent of Re-
right-wing websites, and is repeated But Trump's attacks routinely cite publican efforts to turn union work- Mark McManus, president of the
at every Trump rally in the state. various Biden statements — several ers away from Democrat Hillary United Association of Plumbers and
made during the Democratic primary Clinton four years ago. Clinton was Pipefitters, which has perhaps 2,000
It relies on a series of confusing state- campaign — to muddy that position. hammered for saying “we’re going to to 2,500 members building a multi-
ments from the former vice president put a lot of coal miners and coal com- billion-dollar ethane refinery near
— including remarks on the oil in- In one, Biden told a town hall ques- panies out of business” when describ- Pittsburgh, said Biden has a record
dustry from last week's debate — to tioner last year, “We’re going to end ing her climate plan, a comment that as vice president when the Obama
claim he intends to “ban” or end na- fossil fuel." Biden’s running mate, was used to suggest she had declared administration “basically fracked our
tional gas extraction, although that is California Sen. Kamala Harris, mean- war on coal. way out of the recession.”
not the Democrat's official position. while endorsed a ban during her own
bid for the Democratic presidential Still, most blue-collar unions that Plus, McManus said he had a frank
Trump's fracking play comes as polls nomination. work in the gas fields in Pennsylvania conversation with Biden about frack-
show the president is struggling to have endorsed Biden. He has a long- ing.
overtake Biden in Pennsylvania and At a recent Trump's rally in Erie, standing relationship with some of “He assured me that organized labor
in need of a boost from the rural and Pennsylvania, the president showed them, and the endorsement is partly a would be at the table, his energy ap-
exurban white voters who helped the crowd a video of various Biden reflection of their support for his in- proach would be an all-of-the-above
him to a narrow victory in Pennsyl- comments on fracking in a bid to por- frastructure plan. approach and he is absolutely not
vania in 2016. tray Biden as opposed to the process. against fracking,” McManus said.
And that was days before Trump and One of them — the United As-
It also shoots to snap the tightrope Biden tussled over energy during the sociation of Union Plumbers and A Biden backer, U.S. Rep. Conor
that Biden is walking between the debate. After Biden noted he wanted Pipefitters — repeated Biden's state- Lamb, a Pittsburgh-area Democrat
Democratic Party’s left wing, which to “transition away from the oil in- ment that he wouldn't ban fracking who has pushed back against the par-
is hostile to fossil fuels, and its bed- dustry,” Trump pounced. in a Pittsburgh-themed digital ad that ty's left wing on energy, recalled hear-
rock blue-collar union base that is also touted Biden's support for nucle- ing concerns about Biden's position
building an expanding network of gas “Basically what he is saying is, he is ar power and water infrastructure as on fracking during events at union
pipelines, power plants and process- going to destroy the oil industry,” new sources of union jobs. halls and elsewhere.
ing facilities in Pennsylvania. Trump said. “Will you remember “Joe Biden will be the most pro-
Biden’s climate change plan aims that, Texas? Will you remember that, union president ever," the narrator But, Lamb said he is satisfied with
to reach net-zero greenhouse gases Pennsylvania? Oklahoma? Ohio?” says. Biden’s position on fracking and
emissions by 2050, and does not in- Trump will return to campaign in his commitment to blue-collar la-
volve banning fracking, the process Pennsylvania on Monday. While Biden insists he does not want bor union jobs after three decades of
formally named hydraulic fracturing America First Action, a pro-Trump to ban fracking broadly, he does want Democrats losing clout among work-
that along with horizontal drilling super PAC, ran an eight-week ad to stop issuing new drilling permits ing-class voters in western Pennsyl-
made the United States an oil and gas campaign for TV, the internet and on federal lands, which federal agen- vania.
superpower over the past decade. mail over the summer making that cies say accounts for about 10% of
He argues that net-zero threshold claim in a pitch to the hundreds of natural gas production and 7% of oil “He’s picking up ground," Lamb said.
can be achieved by helping eliminate thousands of Pennsylvanians who production. “We’ll see how much he’s picked up,
emissions from natural gas infra- work in the industry, see their busi- but I’m definitely enthusiastic that
structure, while redirecting federal nesses benefiting or receive royalties As part of a $2 trillion plan, he also he’s out there fighting for it.”