During the September 6 edition of Anderson Cooper 360, CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir spoke directly to Pennsylvania voters who live in a fracking community. The segment challenges the notion not only that the 2024 presidential election in Pennsylvania is won or lost based on a candidate’s position on fracking, but also the notion that those living in the shadows of fracking wells support the practice.
By addressing the well-documented health and environmental issues and speaking directly to those most impacted by the practice, Weir provided context to why fracking is not the litmus test the media would have audiences believe.
Fracking has made Pennsylvania the second largest natural gas-producing state in the U.S., and its status as a swing state has elevated fracking as an election year issue during the past decade — even as Weir points out “fracking provides only a fraction of the state's 6 million jobs.”
Right-wing media in particular have pushed the narrative that support for a ban on fracking is a major political liability, while mainstream outlets have mostly failed to challenge this idea or provide other context such as the climate impacts or local environmental threats associated with fossil fuel extraction, how local voters actually feel about fracking, how energy production has fared under the Biden-Harris administration, and even whether a presidential candidate could actually ban fracking.