In spite of the undeniable momentum that his campaign had at times, perhaps it was inevitable that party favorite Hillary Clinton would top Bernie Sanders and take the Democratic nomination for President. As the Sanders’ campaign finally accepted defeat, though, surrender — and Sanders’ highly valuable endorsement of Clinton — would come with a few caveats. In order to get the Democratic Party somewhat healed and ready for a Trump-Clinton face-off, Clinton’s campaign was forced to include a few of Bernie’s talking points in her platform.
One of the big points from Sanders’ campaign that will not be showing up in Clinton’s future speeches, however, is fracking. Throughout his run, Bernie Sanders was very quick to espouse the supposed dangers of fracking. In April Sanders said, “fracking is a danger to our water supply — our most precious resource. It’s a danger to the air we breathe. It has resulted in more earthquakes. It’s highly explosive. And it’s contributing to climate change.” Sanders used these claims to back up his call for a universal ban on fracking in the United States.
These accusations are scary, sure, but the science backing up Sanders’ claim is tenuous at best. In fact, the emerging resource suggests that hydraulic fracturing is increasing in efficiency and decreasing in environmental impact on a daily basis. At any rate, as Sanders has folded himself back into the Democratic fold, some of his major talking points have been addressed by the Clinton campaign.
Unfortunately, fracking won’t be one of those issues. While the Clinton campaign has called for a carbon tax as well as a “phase down” of drilling on public land. While those may sound like threatening propositions to fans of the oil and gas industry, the inherent vagueness of the wording means that hydraulic fracturing simply won’t be a high priority for the Democratic Party once the election swings into full gear.
What’s more, the oil and gas industry may have very little to fear should Clinton take the Oval Office. Throughout her career, the former Secretary of State has not only refused to take a negative stance on fracturing, she’s actively worked to spread fracking around the world. It would seem that — in spite of her other flaws — at the very least, Hillary Clinton is the kind of candidate who’s firmly on the side of oil and gas, and that’s good news for employees and owners at every level of the industry.