Video surfaced Monday of environmentalists yelling “shame” after they lost a battle to include a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the platform of Democratic National Committee.
Bill McKibben, the co-founder of the environmental group 350.org, proposed having the DNC’s platform include for a moratorium on fracking, but the drafting committee spiked both proposals by a vote of seven to six. When it became clear that the platform change would fail, environmentalist in the audience began yelling “shame on you” and “shame” at the committee members.
The committee chair asked the audience to refrain from further comments. The committee also rejected McKibben’s proposal to include a tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the Democratic platform.
Rejecting a carbon tax and a fracking ban is more moderate than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s currently stated positions on the issues, but is consistent with her historic positions. Clinton appears to have changed positions on energy issues to win the Democratic nomination, and is now returning to her original stance.
The Intercept published emails in May which showed that Hillary Clinton and State Department officials worked closely with private sector oil and gas companies to lobby the White House to promote fracking. Clinton secured technical assistance with the geologic science of finding shale reserves and helping partner nations find investment for new fracking projects. It helped advise world leaders on the benefits of fracking, connected them with American energy experts, and organized visits to drilling sites in America to make it a role model for fracking around the world.
The emails suggest that Clinton made promoting fracking for natural gas abroad a major priority during her tenure as Secretary of State. She even once outright said”the United States will promote the use of shale gas.” However, totally flip-flopped on the issue during the 2016 Democratic campaign, promising to virtually ban fracking if elected president.
Despite the moderation on fracking and a carbon tax, Clinton pledged to put coal miners out of business in March and sought the assistance of a group which wants to end all American oil and natural gas production.
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