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Biden on climate change: ‘we hope too much’
President Biden signed executive actions linked to the fight against climate change, including the rise of climate change as a national security concern.
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The statement: Biden is banning fracking
A Facebook post on Jan. 25 denounced fact-checkers for misjudging a discussion point in Trump’s campaign about President Joe Biden putting an end to hydraulic fracturing.
The post is a meme that compares a headline from a Washington Post check article published in October to a January 20 article on the conservative opinion site Townhall written by Katie Pavlich.
In “The Trump campaign promotes the false claim that Biden would end the fracturing,” the Post gave the Trump team the claim that Biden would eliminate the “Four Pinochios” fracturing.
Under the headline of the Facebook post is the comment “And see what Biden is doing”, with arrows pointing down to the headline of Pavlich’s article, “Biden Administration: Yes, we are proceeding with a fracking ban” to refute this false classification.
“Where did these ‘fact-checkers’ go,” says the post’s caption.
USA TODAY reached out to the author of the post for comment.
Fracking, the process of extracting natural gas from land through drilling, was a recurring theme during the 2020 presidential debates. None of the headlines presented in the declaration tells the entire story of Biden’s hydraulic fracturing policy.
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Biden proposed a ban on hydraulic fracturing?
The Biden campaign emphasized the dangers they pose to the environment from extracting fossil fuel in a $ 1.7 trillion Clean Energy Revolution proposal, according to the campaign website.
But during the last presidential debate on October 23, then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden said he would rule out eliminating all fracturing.
“I dismiss the fracking ban because the answer we need – we need other industries to make the transition to ultimately reach complete zero emissions by 2025,” he said, according to a transcript. “What I’m going to do with fracking over time is to make sure we can capture emissions from fracking. Capture gas emissions. We can do this and we can do this by investing money in – it’s a transition to that.”
Despite Biden’s statement, former President Donald Trump accused him of declaring war on the oil industry, USA TODAY reported in October.
More: Why the Biden and Trump campaigns claim they won the final 2020 presidential debate
A December 2019 report released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute estimates that a fracturing ban imposed in 2021 would cost the U.S. economy 19 million jobs and reduce gross domestic product by $ 7.1 trillion.
Temporary moratorium on oil and gas leases
The Washington Post article quoted in the meme verifies a Trump campaign ad that uses Biden’s soundbites to falsely claim that he will ban all fracking.
The Townhall article refers to the January 20 statement by press secretary Jen Psaki about Biden’s executive action to place a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leases only at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
He states that Psaki confirmed that “President Biden will follow through on campaign promises to ban new hydraulic fracturing on federal lands.” The article recapitulates an exchange between a reporter, who asks if the White House still plans to end new oil and gas leases for federal lands, and Psaki, who responds, “We do and the leases will be reviewed by our team.”
The order was the precursor to an executive order of January 27 that interrupted new leases on public land and offshore waters, according to the White House.
More: Fact check: Joe Biden wants to eliminate new fracking licenses, not all
The article does not mention the accusations at the time of the Trump campaign against the president’s policy on fracturing.
USA TODAY contacted Townhall for comment.
Biden reiterated his position on the practice and pledged to review and redefine the oil and gas leasing program in his comments of 27 January.
“Let me be clear, and I know it always comes up: we are not going to ban hydraulic fracturing. We will protect jobs and increase jobs, including through stricter standards such as methane leakage controls and union workers – willing to install the changes, “he said.
The Biden government did not follow up on the ban on hydraulic fracturing, as the claim states.
Our rating: False
We classify this statement as FALSE, based on our research. A Facebook claim stating that Biden is following a fracking ban mentioned an article on a conservative opinion site that notes the recent environmental action by the Biden government. Biden signed two executive orders establishing a temporary moratorium on the new lease of oil and gas on public land and offshore waters, but he did not prohibit hydraulic fracturing. The president said he will not end fracking in statements released by the White House.
Our sources of fact checking:
- The Washington Post, October 7, 2020: “The Trump campaign promotes the false claim that Biden would end the fracturing”
- City Hall, January 20: “Biden Administration: Yes, we are proceeding with a ban on hydraulic fracturing”
- Townhall, accessed January 30: “Townhall.com – the Leading Conservative and Political Opinion Website”
- USA TODAY, October 23, 2020: “Transcript of the debate: Trump, Biden, final presidential debate moderated by Kristen Welker”
- USA TODAY, October 25, 2020: “Why the Biden and Trump campaigns claim they won the final 2020 presidential debate”
- White House, January 20: “Press meeting of Jen Psaki’s press secretary, January 20, 2021”
- Biden campaign website: “THE BIDEN PLAN FOR A CLEAN ENERGY REVOLUTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE”
- The White House, January 27: “Comments by President Biden before signing Executive Actions on Combating Climate Change, Creating Jobs and Restoring Scientific Integrity”
- Global Energy Institute of the US Chamber of Commerce, accessed January 30: “WHAT IF … HYDRAULIC FRACTURE IS PROHIBITED? CLOSED CLOSED THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THE SHALE REVOLUTION AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF FINISHING IT”
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Our fact-checking work is partially funded by a Facebook grant.