Senate GOP passes legislation to prevent fracking ban

In this Thursday March 6, 2014, file photo, the sun sets beyond pumpjacks operating at the Inglewood oil fields in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. (Richard Vogel / AP Photo)

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UPDATED 11:32 AM PT – Friday, February 5, 2021

The Senate recently passed the Braun Amendment, which will prevent the Biden administration from banning fracking. The amendment, which passed on Thursday, will help prohibit the EPA and the Council on Environmental Quality from enacting rules or guidance that would ban the practice.

Several senators co-sponsored the amendment, including Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Ark.). The bill intends to preserve key energy security policies that helped pull the U.S. out of the Great Recession.

“This is an issue of energy independence, locking in our CO2 admissions reduction provided by clean natural gas, and it gives us time to find the cleanest least expensive options down the road,” stated Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “Due to our American energy renaissance, the U.S. passed Russia as a leading energy supplier in 2011 and passed Saudi Arabia in in 2018.”

If fracking were banned in 2021, the U.S. economy would lose 19 million jobs in 4 years, local and state tax revenues would decline, and gas prices would double.

More on my amendment to prevent the administration from banning fracking, to protect jobs and American energy: pic.twitter.com/FEhSX255LZ

— Senator Mike Braun (@SenatorBraun) February 5, 2021

Braun added, if fracking is banned in 2021 then the U.S. economy would plummet. According to the Global Energy Institute, gas prices would double and nearly 20 million jobs would be lost within four years.

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