Harris supported the Green New Deal. Now, she's promoting domestic oil drilling

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even as she promoted her efforts to boost clean energy, Vice President Kamala Harris said in Tuesday's debate that the Biden-Harris administration has overseen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil.″

The comment by Harris, a longtime climate hawk who backed the original Green New Deal, surprised supporters and opponents alike — and conflicted with frequent boasts by Harris and President Joe Biden that they are champions in the fight to slow global warming.

After former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Biden-Harris administration reentered the global pact aimed at reducing emissions. The administration also set a target to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and moved to accelerate renewable energy projects and shift away from fossil fuels.

Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist, said it was notable that at a debate in energy-rich Pennsylvania, Harris chose to “brag about something that President Biden has barely acknowledged — that domestic fossil fuel production under the Biden administration is at an all-time high.″ Crude production averaged 12.9 million barrels a day last year, eclipsing a previous record set in 2019 under Trump, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The statement was “another sign of Harris’ sprint to the middle″ on energy policy and other issues, said Donovan, who works with energy industry clients at the Bracewell law and lobbying firm.

Harris went one step further, rebranding the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — the administration's signature climate law — as a boon to fracking and other drilling, thanks to lease-sale requirements inserted into the bill by independent West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a key swing vote in the Senate and a strong supporter of the fossil fuel industry.

Harris's comments disappointed some in the environmental community.

“Harris missed a critical opportunity to lay out a stark contrast with Trump and show young voters that she will stand up to Big Oil and stop the climate crisis,'' said Stevie O’Hanlon, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, one of the groups behind the Green New Deal.

“Harris spent more time promoting fracking than laying out a bold vision for a clean energy future,'' O'Hanlon said. “Young voters want more from Harris'' on climate change, she added. “We want to see a real plan that meets the scale and urgency of this crisis.''

Her group is working to turn out young voters, “but we hear people asking every day, ‘What are Democrats going to do for us?’” O'Hanlon said. “To win, Harris needs to show young people she will fight for us.”

Other environmental groups were less critical, citing the looming threat to climate action posed by Trump, who rolled back more than 100 environmental protections during his term as president.

“There is only one presidential candidate who is a champion for climate action and that is Kamala Harris,'' said Alex Glass, speaking for Climate Power, a liberal advocacy group. Harris "laid out a clear vision to invest in clean energy jobs and lower costs for working families,'' Glass said.

By comparison, she said, Trump "will do the bidding of his Big Oil donors.''

Glass cited the conservative Project 2025, written by Trump allies, saying it will put millions of clean-energy jobs at risk and let oil companies "profiteer and pollute.'' Trump has denied a direct connection to Project 2025 but has endorsed some of its key ideas.

Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's top lobbying group, said Harris' comment in support of fracking reflected political reality in the closely contested election. “You have to be for fracking to be elected president in 2024,'' he said. “That's good news for our industry and great news for American consumers.''

Asked why he was so confident about the need to support fracking, Sommers offered a one-word answer: “Pennsylvania.”

Not only is it a key swing state in the election, Pennsylvania also “is the beating heart of the natural gas industry in this country,” Sommers said, second only to Texas in total production.

"You don't win Pennsylvania without supporting fracking, and you don't win the presidency without Pennsylvania,'' Sommers said.

In the debate, Trump disputed Harris's claim that she will not try to ban fracking, but Sommers said he takes Harris at her word and welcomes her support for fracking and oil drilling more generally.

Asked if he was concerned about Harris' past actions suing oil companies, Sommers said no. The oil and gas industry supports 11 million jobs, he said, and the price of gasoline “is determined by economics — supply and demand. There is no man behind the curtain” rigging prices.

As California attorney general, Harris “won tens of millions in settlements against Big Oil and held polluters accountable,'' her campaign says. Her platform includes a promise to ”hold polluters accountable to secure clean air and water for all.''

Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to rescind unspent funds from the climate law and other programs, and said he will target offshore wind projects. He said Harris would move to restrict onshore oil and gas production if elected.

“They’ll go back to destroying our country, and oil will be dead, fossil fuel will be dead,” Trump said.

A president’s power to restrict fracking, even on federal lands, is limited, and barring the practice on private land would require an act of Congress.

Jamie Henn, director of the activist group Fossil Free Media, supports a fracking ban, but said he was "not particularly worried about Harris having to thread the needle on fracking and other energy issues.''

“Her job right now is to get elected,'' Henn wrote on the social media site X. "That’s the most important ‘policy’ on climate and everything else. They’ll be plenty of time to push her when she’s in office.''

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris gestures as she speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - A crew works on a gas drilling rig at a well site for shale based natural gas in Zelienople, Pa. June 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

FILE - Work continues at a shale gas well drilling site in St. Mary's, Pa., March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

FILE - Workers move a section of well casing into place at a Chesapeake Energy natural gas well site near Burlington, Pa., in Bradford County, on April 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson, File)

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s meeting next week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Modi visits the U.S.

Modi is scheduled to be in the United States this weekend, along with the leaders of Australia and Japan, for a summit of the so-called Quad hosted by President Joe Biden in his Wilmington, Delaware, hometown. The group is formally called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, and it began as a partnership after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The popular and polarizing Indian prime minister has advanced Hindu nationalism in his decade-long tenure.

The meeting between Modi with Trump had not been previously reported. The Republican presidential nominee referenced it for the first time while speaking at an unrelated event in Flint, Michigan. The Indian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.

Earlier this year, Trump met with other foreign leaders, including Hungary's nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán, whom he regularly mentions in speeches, and Polish President Andrzej Duda, who once proposed naming a military base in his country “Fort Trump.” Trump also met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

Foreign leaders have argued that meetings with Trump are part of standard encounters they have with opposition figures.

FILE - India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then President Donald Trump walk the perimeter of the arena floor to greet attendants after Modi's speech during the "Howdi Modi" event, September 22, 2019, at NRG Stadium in Houston. Trump says he’s meeting next week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi is scheduled to be in the United States this weekend hosted by President Joe Biden in his Wilmington, Delaware hometown along with leaders of Australia and Japan for a summit of the so-called Quad. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke, File)