CNN reporter John Avlon called out Pennsylvania Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s “false” flip-flop on fracking.
Fetterman claimed he supported fracking during his Tuesday night debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
“I’ve always supported fracking and I always believed that independence with our energy is — is critical,” Fetterman said during the debate when asked about it. (RELATED: ‘Proxy Fight For The Future Of Fossil Fuels’: Biden Interior Nominee Fields Questions About ‘Radical’ Climate Agenda)
“It’s fine for Fetterman to change his mind, but it is false to say that he has always supported fracking, as a moderator pointed out,” Avlon said.
Yet Fetterman said in a 2018 interview with RealProgressives he doesn’t support fracking “at all,” and never has, according to CNN. He also expressed opposition to fracking in an unsuccessful Senate campaign in 2016 and called for a “moratorium” on the procedure until certain changes were made.
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Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing, which is using liquid and minerals to develop oil and gas from shale formations, according to the Independent Petroleum Association of America. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a 2018 district court ruling that halted fracking off the coast of California.
President Joe Biden did not respond to questions from the Washington Post about energy issues in June 2019. Biden claimed he would not ban fracking during a ceremony when he signed a series of executive orders on Jan. 27, 2021.
“I support a moratorium on fracking until 2 conditions are met: an extraction tax, & the strictest enviro regulations in this country,” Fetterman tweeted on Feb. 4, 2016.
Fetterman held a 0.8% lead in a Fox29/InsiderAdvantage poll of 550 likely voters released Thursday. A Rasmussen poll released Monday showed Fetterman with 45% of the vote to 43% for Dr. Oz.
Fetterman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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