Fact Check: Nikki Haley Claims Ron DeSantis Banned Fracking in Florida

Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican presidential cand
Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton

Claim: Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley claimed fellow Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) banned fracking in Florida during Wednesday’s second GOP primary debate.

Verdict: TRUE. As governor, DeSantis campaigned on and implemented a ban on fracking in Florida’s waters.

“Energy security is national security. We need a president that understands we have to partner with our producers and make sure that we have their backs,” Haley said during Wednesday’s debate. “What you don’t need is a president who is against energy independence. Ron DeSantis is against fracking, he’s against drilling, he’s been against — you did it.”

“You banned fracking, you banned offshore drilling — you did it on federal lands and you took green subsidies that you didn’t have to take,” Haley added.

“In the state of Florida, our voters enacted a constitutional amendment,” DeSantis said as he rejected Haley’s claims, referencing Florida’s 2018 Amendment 9 whereby voters approved a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling.

“I just did a plan out in West Texas for American energy dominance. We’re going to choose Midland over Moscow, we’re going to choose the Marcellus over the mullahs, and we’re going to choose Bakken over Beijing,” DeSantis responded to Haley. “And we are going to lower your gas prices. We are going to get that job done because it’s important for our national security, it’s important for jobs, and that’s one of the best ways to drive down inflation.”

However, DeSantis enacted Executive Order 19-12 into law within days of taking office. That executive order directed Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection to “take necessary actions to adamantly oppose all off-shore oil and gas activities off every coast in Florida and hydraulic fracturing in Florida.”

DeSantis also campaigned on banning fracking as he ran for his first term as Florida’s governor. His 2018 campaign website claimed, “fracking presents a danger to our state that is not acceptable.”

Haley’s campaign called out DeSantis for changing his opinion on fracking in a statement released after the debate.

“DeSantis changed his tune when he became a candidate for governor, calling on the Trump administration to drop plans for drilling in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico,” Haley’s campaign said. “On his second day in office as governor, DeSantis issued executive orders banning fracking and offshore drilling in Florida. He was praised by the Sierra Club.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.

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