Fracking could decide the election in Pennsylvania — and nationwide

Pennsylvania may be the deciding state 💜in the 2024 election. And new polling from my organization makes clear energy may be the deciding issue for Pennsylvania voters.

Energy matters more to Pennsylvania — where polling shows Donald Trump and Kamala Harris tied — than a🐼lmost any other staಌte. 

We’re the second-largest producer ♚of natural gas, with 2022 production totaling a staggering 7.5🐻 trillion cubic feet. 

Likewise, Pennsylvania is the No. 1 state for exporting electricity — powering our neighb🦄ors ℱlike New York.

The biggest reason we’re able to produce so much is because of hydraulic fracturing, best knownꦆ as fracking. Rev▨olutionary advances in energy exploration have made it possible for Pennsylvania to not only produce enough natural gas to keep energy costs low in our homes and businesses but have plenty left over to ship around the world.

No surprise, Keystone State voters want🌠 candidates who’ll defend our way of life and unleash our tremendous energy resou🍌rces. 

We don’t want candidates who attack the energy thatꦛ underpins our economy and isꦐ essential to our future.

It’s no surprise then to see Kamala Harris flip-flop on fra𓆉ckin🔜g. 

Five years ago, before she was vice president, Harris unequivocally stated she wanted to ban fracking. For Pennsylvania, few things could be more harmful or less appealing in a potenti🦄al pr𓂃esident. 

So fast forward to tဣoday, and the now-nominee says she doesn’t support a fracking ban.

But does she really mean it? 

In recent days, her campaign has  her newfound support of fracking, with a top aide declaring, “She is not promoting expansiꦍon.”

And as a Biden-Har🅠ris administration leadeꦆr, she’s backed a  that’ve undermined natural-gas production and risk driving the industry into the ground. 

We’re talking painful one-size-fits-all mandate♒s, a ban on liquified-natural-gas exports and massive taxpayer subsidies to unreliable “green” energy sources, which unfairly boost them at the expense of fracking.

Pennsylvania voters are starting to realize this truth, as my org𓃲anization’s .&nb🍬sp;

Nearly eight in 10 voters believe natural-gas drilling is important to the state’s economy. This puts 🐠Harris between a rock and a hard place — defending the administration’s policies or delivering for Pennsylvania voters.

The last thing our state needs i๊s more of the same from the vice president. 

Only 23% of voters here support her administration’s controversial LNG-export ban.&𓄧nb♊sp;

This policy is so unpopular that even our state’s two Democratic senators a꧋nd Democratic governor have spoken out against it — but Harris has fully embraced it.

Pennsylvanians are perfectly clear🎃 about what policies they want. Nearly three-quarters of voters w👍ant to build more natural-gas infrastructure, especially pipelines. 

Yet as vice president, Harris is p𒊎art of an administration that’s unilat🍎erally blocked the development of pipelines.

Th♛ese swing staters likewise 🐭want to see a reduction of excessive red tape, which 57% say prevents energy production without helping the environment. 

Yet the Biden-Harris administration has dramatically expanded the regulatory state and slowed energy development in the United Staꦯtes.

And Pennsylvanians have a strong desire for the affordable energy fracking helps deliver. Pennsylvanians, by overwhelming 60-point margins, say their household bills have increased, and they’re concerned abo🎶ut the future availability of reasonably priced enerඣgy.

More than two-thirds say ensuring affordable energy should be a higher priority for the federal governme🔥nt than “combating climate change.”

In fact, 57% of our state’s voters wouldn’t be willing to spend even $100 of their own money in the name of fighting climate change. That makes sense: Throughout the l🉐ast four years, my fellow residents have consistently said rising costs are their top concern.

People want what Pennsylvania can uniquely prov🌜ide: abundant and affordable energy, the kind🌼 that creates jobs, keeps the lights on and leads to better lives for all. 

That widespread desire may very well de🐎termi⛦ne who wins Pennsylvania — and for that matter, the White House itself.

Andrew J. Lewis is president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank.