Fact Check: Joe Biden Claims to Have ‘Never Said I Oppose Fracking’

CLAIM: Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed Thursday during the presidential debate that he has “never said I oppose fracking.”

VERDICT: FALSE. Biden has consistently criticized fracking and has promised to ban the process, along with his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).

“I have never said I oppose fracking,” Biden said. “You said it on tape,” President Donald Trump interjected.

“Show the tape,” Biden said angrily. “Put it on your website.”

“I’ll put it on,” Trump said, before Biden accused Trump of lying and said he would “rule out banning fracking.”

Asked on July 31, 2019, during the second Democratic Party presidential primary debate whether there would be “any place for fossil fuels, including coal and fracking, in a Biden administration,” Biden responded to CNN’s Dana Bash and said, “No, we would — we would work it out. We would make sure it’s eliminated and no more subsidies for either one of those, either — any fossil fuel.”

Joe Biden just claimed he doesn't want to ban fracking.

But a few months ago he said there would be no place for fracking in a Biden Administration: "we would make sure it's eliminated."pic.twitter.com/gLSIZEnwP8

— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) August 31, 2020

In the final debate of the primary, Biden even promised there would be “no new fracking.”

Harris, who attempted to persuade viewers of the vice-presidential debate into believing that Biden “will not end fracking,” has also admitted that she is in “favor of banning fracking.”

In July, Biden attempted to backtrack, telling WNEP in July that “fracking is not going to be on the chopping block.”

Trump highlighted Biden’s inconsistency on fracking at a recent rally in Pennsylvania where he played the tape for the audience to hear.

C-SPAN

“This is an original Donald Trump Broadway play,” Trump joked, before playing a montage of clips of Biden and Harris admitting that they support an end to fracking.