[News Terms] 'Fracking' Emerges as a Key Issue in November US Presidential Election

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‘Fracking’ or ‘Hydraulic Fracturing’ is a method that involves drilling vertically 3,000 to 4,000 meters deep into the ground, then injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure to extract shale gas and oil flowing from the fractured shale layers. Fracking has emerged as a key issue in the November U.S. presidential election. Former President Trump, a proponent of fracking, is attacking U.S. Vice President Harris, who changed her stance from opposing to allowing fracking. Pennsylvania, the top battleground state in the election, has many voters who support fracking and holds the largest number of electoral votes (19) among the seven major battleground states.

The initial model of fracking was developed in 1865 by Edward A.L. Roberts, a Union Army veteran from the Civil War. In 1862, he witnessed Confederate soldiers firing explosive shells at a narrow canal blocking the battlefield in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He developed this idea into increasing oil production by detonating elongated shells or torpedoes in oil-bearing rock veins and fissures. In 1896, Roberts patented this as the ‘Roberts Exploding Torpedo.’ Some oil wells using the Roberts torpedo saw oil production increase by 1,200% within a week of the torpedo explosion.

Edward A.L. Roberts and the Idea He Devised
[Photo by Drake Well Museum]

This method became the catalyst for the U.S. ‘Shale Revolution’ in the 2010s. Thanks to the shale revolution, the U.S. became the world’s top oil producer in 2018, producing an average of 10.99 million barrels of crude oil per day. In 2019, production surged to an average of 15.04 million barrels per day. About half of this, 7.7 million barrels, was shale oil extracted using this method.

However, fracking has been embroiled in environmental pollution controversies. The core issue lies in the mixture. Due to the toxic additives in this liquid, serious groundwater contamination problems arise from wastewater after extraction. Additionally, injecting this liquid into rock formations at high pressure releases large amounts of greenhouse gases. Concerns about ground subsidence due to soil erosion have also surfaced, leading to growing opposition movements against shale gas development.

Former President Trump has consistently been a supporter of fracking. He denied the climate crisis and advocated for active development of fossil energy sources. In contrast, Vice President Harris clearly opposed fracking when she ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. However, after becoming President Joe Biden’s running mate (vice presidential candidate), she aligned with Biden’s position of not banning fracking. In a CNN interview on October 29 (local time), ahead of the November election, Harris stated, “If I become president, I will not ban fracking.” While acknowledging her change in stance, Harris said, “My most important values have not changed. There is a way to achieve clean energy goals without banning fracking.”

Pennsylvania, part of the Rust Belt (the declining manufacturing region), currently relies heavily on shale gas production as a major source of income. It is known that about 72,000 people are employed in fracking-related jobs there. In the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, the margin between the first and second place candidates in Pennsylvania was around 1 percentage point. In 2016, Republican former President Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by 0.72 percentage points, and in 2020, Democratic President Joe Biden defeated former President Trump by 1.17 percentage points.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.