An anti-fracking bill crafted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) aims to end the practice altogether, making it illegal “on all onshore and offshore land in the United States” by Jan. 1, 2025.
Left-wing actor Mark Ruffalo teased the bill last week, allowing Sanders to jokingly knock him for “ruining the surprise” of the new fracking legislation.
“I don’t mind if @MarkRuffalo spoils his own movies. But please, don’t ruin the surprise of our new legislation with Rep. @AOC, @SenJeffMerkley and @RepDarrenSoto,” Sanders wrote with an accompanying clip of the Avengers actor evidently “spoiling” the upcoming legislation:
STATE OF PLAY: Highly watched Hong race remains too close to call as progressives notch key primary wins
Ilhan Omar on track for fifth term as Minnesota voters maintain far-left streak
Schumer dealt another blow as progressive insurgency scores win in key Senate battle
Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary
Minnesota House speaker Lisa Demuth wins GOP gubernatorial primary to replace Tim Walz in November
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Fauci’s Pardon Neutralized? Florida Issues Subpoena, Begins Investigation Into Self-Dealing, Which Fauci’s Pardon Does Not Cover
Watch: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Drowned Out by Boos and Jeers When She Tries to Speak at Rural Event
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Sharia Senator: In 2009, Abdul El-Sayed Declared He Will Follow Sharia in ‘Everything’ He Does Until the Day He Dies
Some Fans Stunned Upon Arriving at Their Seats at Brand New Taxpayer-Funded NFL Stadium
I don't mind if @MarkRuffalo spoils his own movies. But please, don't ruin the surprise of our new legislation with Rep. @AOC, @SenJeffMerkley and @RepDarrenSoto.
I don't want the dirty fracking industry CEOs to know what hit them. pic.twitter.com/OBbQnpOHsy
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 30, 2020
The bill, according to the Hill, aims to end fracking altogether, revoking permits for “wells where fracking takes place and that are within 2,500 feet of a home, school or other ‘inhabited structure’” beginning February 1, 2021. It would also “immediately prevent federal agencies from issuing federal permits for expanded fracking, new fracking, new pipelines, new natural gas or oil export terminals and other gas and oil infrastructure.”
It would make the practice, which Ocasio-Cortez has identified as the “leading contributor to our climate emergency,” illegal by January 1, 2025.
“Fracking is a danger to our water supply. It’s a danger to the air we breathe, it has resulted in more earthquakes, and it’s highly explosive,” Sanders said in a statement, according to the Hill. To top it all off, it’s contributing to climate change.”
“If we are serious about clean air and drinking water, if we are serious about combating climate change, the only safe and sane way to move forward is to ban fracking nationwide,” he continued.
STATE OF PLAY: Highly watched Hong race remains too close to call as progressives notch key primary wins
Ilhan Omar on track for fifth term as Minnesota voters maintain far-left streak
Schumer dealt another blow as progressive insurgency scores win in key Senate battle
Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary
Minnesota House speaker Lisa Demuth wins GOP gubernatorial primary to replace Tim Walz in November
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Fauci’s Pardon Neutralized? Florida Issues Subpoena, Begins Investigation Into Self-Dealing, Which Fauci’s Pardon Does Not Cover
Watch: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Drowned Out by Boos and Jeers When She Tries to Speak at Rural Event
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Sharia Senator: In 2009, Abdul El-Sayed Declared He Will Follow Sharia in ‘Everything’ He Does Until the Day He Dies
Some Fans Stunned Upon Arriving at Their Seats at Brand New Taxpayer-Funded NFL Stadium
Critics of Sanders have defended the practice, warning that its elimination would “spike household energy costs and hurt farmers and manufacturers.”
American Petroleum Institute spokeswoman Bethany Aronhalt told the Hill:
Banning a safe, successful method of developing energy would erase a generation of American energy progress and in the process destroy millions of U.S. jobs, spike household energy costs and hurt farmers and manufacturers.
“Thanks to fracking, the United States is the global leader in reducing carbon emissions,” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) tweeted in response to the announcement:
Sanders has long maintained the need for the elimination of fracking, promising to ban it during his presidential bid in 2016.
“If I win, we are going to ban fracking all across this country,” Sanders said at the time.
That call has carried over to his current presidential campaign as well. In September, Sanders called on his colleagues to support a ban.
“Any proposal to avert the climate crisis must include a full fracking ban on public and private lands,” Sanders stated, dismissing “safe fracking” as “pure fiction”:
STATE OF PLAY: Highly watched Hong race remains too close to call as progressives notch key primary wins
Ilhan Omar on track for fifth term as Minnesota voters maintain far-left streak
Schumer dealt another blow as progressive insurgency scores win in key Senate battle
Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary
Minnesota House speaker Lisa Demuth wins GOP gubernatorial primary to replace Tim Walz in November
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Fauci’s Pardon Neutralized? Florida Issues Subpoena, Begins Investigation Into Self-Dealing, Which Fauci’s Pardon Does Not Cover
Watch: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Drowned Out by Boos and Jeers When She Tries to Speak at Rural Event
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Sharia Senator: In 2009, Abdul El-Sayed Declared He Will Follow Sharia in ‘Everything’ He Does Until the Day He Dies
Some Fans Stunned Upon Arriving at Their Seats at Brand New Taxpayer-Funded NFL Stadium
NEW: @BernieSanders calling on all Democratic candidates to support a full fracking BAN on all public and private lands. pic.twitter.com/YMbFEp26nP
— Anthony Adragna (@AnthonyAdragna) September 4, 2019
Similarly, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has vowed to ban fracking “everywhere”:
On my first day as president, I will sign an executive order that puts a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases for drilling offshore and on public lands. And I will ban fracking—everywhere.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 6, 2019
Story cited here.
