I was shocked in the presidential debate that Harris gave staunch support for fracking. I was under the impression that democrats are against fracking, and remember people being critical of Fetterman for supporting it.

I also grew up in an area that was heavily impacted by the pollution from fracking. People who worked in the field were seen as failures of moral character who chose profits over the health of their children. How is it that both major parties are now in support of it? I feel like I must be missing a piece of the puzzle.

  • wolfshadowheart@leminal.space
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    14 days ago

    What’s more disappointing is that she had been historically anti-fracking. Tossed all of that out though, I suppose.

    On one hand, I get it. To ensure herself a smooth election, keep the funding from your enemy.

    On the other hand, fuck man I just want a President with policy that won’t destroy the planet.

    • xavier666@lemm.ee
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      13 days ago

      The aim is to suck all resources from the planet and die just before things go to shit

  • Westdragon@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    I’m not convinced democrats have been completely against fracking. I think it’s location based as fracking does or can have extreme negative consequences on the surrounding environment, so doing it around a major city aquifer probably isn’t the greatest idea. Fracking out in the middle of nowhere might be more positively embraced.

  • Swordgeek@lemmy.ca
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    13 days ago

    The Democrats won’t win an election while opposing fracking. O&G is far FAR too powerful to let that happen. If Harris stood firmly against fracking, then the opponent would win - be he (and it will be a he) Trump, Musk, or David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz.

    No, I’m not exaggerating.

  • mkwt@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Fracking has granted the United States independence from OPEC, and turned the US into the largest exporter of oil. The US now has the pricing power on the world oil market. This has huge geopolitical implications.

    Back in the 2000s it was completely different. All of the geopolitical wonks were pushing renewable energy as a means of OPEC independence. And now that independence has been granted, but we still have the oil.

    Meanwhile, as others have stated on this thread, the immediate problems from fracking have been mostly fixed, including the earthquakes. Long term, I don’t think anyone knows what’s going to happen with all of that dirty wastewater going back into the ground.

    So on balance, there’s a good reason for the leadership in both parties to be on board with fracking: oil still rules the world, and fracking lets the United States rule the oil markets.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      Yeah, and I’m fine with that short term. But only if it’s very short term and only if we use it as a brief reprieve to build out renewable energy faster than otherwise. That seems unlikely

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    this is one time I side with the NIMBY’s.

    fracking is awful and we need to kick the oil habit anyhow. it absolutely fucks up the local enviroment, and destroys the water table. the full name is literally hydraulic fracturing… because the process is basically taking something you can’t normally get oil out of, pumping in a shit load of water until the bedrock shatters to fucking hell.

    it lets you get to the oil, sure, but it also releases the oil (and all sorts of other shit, like gases) so that it gets into wells and everything else.

    Basically the only people that are pro-fracking are the assholes that are perfectly okay fucking over every one else, and the assholes that take their money.

  • Professorozone@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    She’s still a politician. It’s easy to put her on a pedestal because she’s NOT Trump, but without him, how excited would you really be about Harris?

  • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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    14 days ago

    Liberals aren’t on the side of anyone but billionaires, be they neoliberals, conservatives, or “post-liberals.”

    The sooner you accept that the more American politics will make sense.

  • memfree@lemmy.ml
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    15 days ago

    It’s because of the electoral college. Most states give all their electoral college votes to whomever wins the state rather than dividing the votes equitably. This means Pennsylvania – a swing state – will go either all-red or all-blue. The state has a lot of fracking, and a lot of people making money off it, so Democrats are trying to appease pro-fracking to get votes.

    The people getting harmed by fracking are stuck without anyone on their ‘side’, but will presumably be more likely to vote blue because that side favors more regulation and pro-environment stuff. Note that all Harris said was she wouldn’t ban fracking. She didn’t say she wouldn’t make it difficult to do. My guess is any attempts to make it cleaner will get crushed by Congress and the Corrupted Supreme Court that has sided against Unions, workers, citizens, and the planet – all to favor of their sugar daddies. So even if the next President wants to do something about fracking, it would be a hard to actually do anything.

    • Etterra@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      That and because there are Democrats who are bought by the oil companies, just like Republicans.

  • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Democrats have the backwards idea that trying to be conservative enough to siphon off republican voters is how they’ll win, while they’ve got this mass of chronically ignored, disconnected progressives who they never serve “because they don’t vote”. And they don’t vote because no one represents them.

    Just eternally chasing that cracked out meth head of a party over to the right.

  • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work
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    15 days ago

    What is even the difference beyond rhetoric between these two candidates? They both hate immigrants and Palestinians, love Israel and fossil fuels, and neither have a tenable plan to improve the economy for the working class. Don’t let anyone give you a hard time about not voting for either.

    • voracitude@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      One is a Russian asset intent on destroying America from within; the other is Kamala Harris. Your eyes must be getting real bad to not see that.

        • voracitude@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          Not really, since it’s now public knowledge that the entirety of Trump-positive media is bankrolled by the Kremlin.

          • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work
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            15 days ago

            The entirety? Regardless, what difference does it make if both candidates are arguing that they will carry out the same policies more effectively than the other? It’s plain russophobia if you oppose a candidate for no discernable reason than alleged support of their campaign by Russia.

            • taipan@lemmy.world
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              15 days ago

              Same policies, my ass. Harris supports abortion rights, LGBT rights, more progressive tax policies, and has a stronger foreign policy strategy with respect to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, among many other policy positions that are superior to Trump’s. On the other hand, Trump supports the far-right vision of Project 2025 and wants to impose ridiculously high tariffs on imported goods to sharply increase the cost of living for most Americans. Most Lemmy readers see right through your bothsidesism.

              We criticize Russia-backed propaganda campaigns such as Tenet Media because they disinform voters to promote Trump, who is content with Ukraine being annexed by Russia. Crying Russophobia doesn’t excuse the fact that Russia sees Trump as a tool to further Russian imperialism.

                • taipan@lemmy.world
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                  14 days ago

                  You’re lying, because Harris covered all of the policies I mentioned in her platform:

                  Restore and Protect Reproductive Freedoms

                  Vice President Harris and Governor Walz trust women to make decisions about their own bodies, and not have the government tell them what to do.

                  Donald Trump handpicked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom – and now he brags about it. In his words, “I did it, and I’m proud to have done it.” He even called for punishment for women who have an abortion.

                  Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Vice President Harris has driven the Administration’s strategy to defend reproductive freedom and safeguard the privacy of patients and providers. As Governor, Tim Walz led Minnesota to become the first state to pass a law protecting a woman’s right to choose following the overturning of Roe. Vice President Harris has traveled America and heard the stories of women hurt by Trump abortion bans. Stories of couples just trying to grow their family, cut off in the middle of IVF treatments. Stories of women miscarrying in parking lots, developing sepsis, losing the ability to ever have children again — all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients. As President, she will never allow a national abortion ban to become law. And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, she will sign it.

                  Protect Civil Rights and Freedoms

                  As President, she’ll fight to pass the Equality Act to enshrine anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ Americans in health care, housing, education, and more into law.

                  Cut Taxes for Middle Class Families

                  Vice President Harris and Governor Walz believe that working families deserve a break. That’s why under their plan more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans will get a tax cut. They will do this by restoring two tax cuts designed to help middle class and working Americans: the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Through these two programs, millions of Americans get to keep more of their hard-earned income. They will also expand the Child Tax Credit to provide a $6,000 tax cut to families with newborn children. They believe no child in America should live in poverty, and these actions would have a historic impact.

                  Unlike Donald Trump, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are committed to ensuring no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in taxes. They believe that we need to chart a New Way Forward by both making our tax system fairer and prioritizing investment and innovation. They will ensure the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations pay their fair share, so we can take action to build up the middle class while reducing the deficit. This includes rolling back Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, enacting a billionaire minimum tax, quadrupling the tax on stock buybacks, and other reforms to ensure the very wealthy are playing by the same rules as the middle class. Under her plan, the tax rate on long-term capital gains for those earning a million dollars a year or more will be 28 percent, because when the government encourages investment, it leads to broad-based economic growth and creates jobs, which makes our economy stronger.

                  Stand With Our Allies, Stand Up to Dictators, and Lead on the World Stage

                  Five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, she met with President Zelenskyy to warn him about Russia’s plan to invade and helped mobilize a global response of more than 50 countries to help Ukraine defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s brutal aggression. And she has worked with our allies to ensure NATO is stronger than ever.

    • dan1101@lemm.ee
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      14 days ago

      One is a idiot thin-skinned grifter man child cult leader who doesn’t care about anyone but themselves, and the other is Kamala Harris.