Western oil and gas producers aren’t taking Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan to impose a nationwide ban on fracking lying down.
“Stopping fracking would result in an absolute cratering of the oil industry in the United States,” said Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of federal affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, representing oil and natural gas interests in the western part of the country.
Sanders, who is looking to become the Democratic Party’s nominee, was in California on Wednesday calling for a nationwide ban on the oil and gas drilling practice known as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, ahead of the state’s June 7 primary election.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has come under increasing attack by environmentalists for not instituting a ban himself, while signaling support for continued drilling in the Golden State.
“All of [the] rhetoric are coming from environmental talking points that are almost 100 percent wrong,” said Sgamma in an interview with the Washington Examiner. She pointed out that fracking is an engineering practice for extracting oil and natural gas, not a process for injecting toxins into the water supply as Sanders and his supporters like to frame the issue.
Most wouldn’t agree with the talking points Sanders is using, she said. “It’s just a process.”
The Interior Department on Friday released a report that showed fracking off the coast of California would pose no harm to the environment. The Interior agencies that oversee offshore drilling did the study as part of a court settlement with one of the groups opposing fracking in the state. The findings were met by disappointment by environmental groups.
Sgamma says many aren’t buying the environmental claims that Sanders and the “environmental left” are floating. “Bernie Sanders is driven by the far left,” who see humans as “expendable” when it comes to energy policy. “Who cares if they are shivering in the dark” is how they see it, Sgamma said.
She doesn’t believe Clinton is anywhere as close to Sanders on instituting a nationwide fracking ban. “I think there is a big difference” between Clinton and Sanders on fossil fuels, she said. Clinton understands that a big chunk of the world’s energy will come from fossil fuels for the foreseeable future and it can’t be just shut off, she said.
“So she is being forced to the left, but she is certainly not convincing Bernie Sanders fans,” Sgamma said.
Western energy producers are most concerned that Clinton would continue the regulatory overreach started by the Obama administration, she said.
