WASHINGTON — In January, when such things were still possible, hundreds of oil and gas industry advocates crammed into a concert venue here to plot against their biggest policy fear heading into the 2020 campaign: a ban on fracking.
This month, when the climate change platform of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden — a “unity” document crafted with progressive allies of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — the fears should have been allayed.
There was no mention of a ban on fracking, the method of extracting natural gas by fracturing underground shale rock. In fact, there were pledges to promote the industry’s staying power by investing in methane leak reduction along pipelines and carbon emissions technologies at power plants that burn the fuel.
The document included the fingerprints of Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, who was selected as one of nine people tasked with hashing out differences between two camps of the Democratic Party on climate change and environmental justice issues. Mr. Lamb, who has endorsed Mr. Biden, said the Biden campaign, along with several labor unions, asked him to be a part of the panel.
The resulting 2,200-word document distilled sometimes divergent viewpoints into a middle ground that balanced the realities of the U.S. energy sector, the importance of growing good-paying jobs, and the urgency of climate change crisis, Mr. Lamb said.
“Natural gas is here, it’s not going anywhere — we know that,” Mr. Lamb said in an interview last week. “And what we want to try to do is favor those workers who can help us make it even safer and better for the environment.”
While the plan pushes for a carbon-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Mr. Lamb said that shift relies not on banning fossil fuels but investing in research.
“The research section shows that we understand, for many industrial processes, fossil fuels are going to be a critical component for years to come,” he said. “There’s no escaping that.”
Still, the panel’s suggestions for a unifying climate change platform came as Republican campaign strategists have sought to make fracking a wedge issue in Western Pennsylvania.
During the crowded Democratic primary race, calls for a national fracking ban among candidates like Mr. Sanders, the progressive favorite, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., made some Pittsburgh-area energy producers, manufacturers and labor unions nervous.
The Allegheny County Labor Council, joined by Mr. Lamb and Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, vocally rejected the Green New Deal as an unrealistic proposal. Climate change legislation drawn up in the House Energy and Commerce Committee emphasized building efficiency and new technologies to capture carbon.
After bills were introduced in February to ban fracking by 2025, Mr. Lamb urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to reject the proposal as an idea that “betrayed” people in Western Pennsylvania, estimating it would eliminate millions of jobs nationwide.
Those bills were sponsored by Mr. Sanders in the Senate and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who served as co-chair of the Biden-Sanders climate change panel.
Mr. Lamb, in the interview, said he did not hear the fracking ban come up as a proposal to include in the unity platform. A spokesperson for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Lamb declined to talk specifically about the deliberations, noting that all nine members had successfully agreed to keep them confidential.
“It was an environment where we could be open with each other, and everyone respected that,” Mr. Lamb recalled, noting the panel’s other co-chair, former Secretary of State John Kerry, wielded his diplomatic skills over the virtual Zoom call.
“Nobody was ever cut off, every idea was taken seriously, and I think that’s what allowed us to get there,” he said. “There was just a basic spirit of compromise.”
Some in the natural gas industry remain skeptical of Mr. Biden’s ultimate position.
David Spigelmyer, president of the Pittsburgh-based Marcellus Shale Coalition, said he believes Mr. Biden could be swayed to support restrictions on the industry.
“I’m concerned that the extreme flank of the party could force the [former] vice president there,” Mr. Spigelmyer said. “The concern that I have is the party is pushing him to an awkward spot that he’s not comfortable with. I think he gets the fact that energy is a key part of Pennsylvania’s economy.”
A clash of views
And different views within the party continue to clash.
Last month, a climate change panel of the Democratic National Committee proposed a framework with a quicker timeline: 100% zero-carbon new building infrastructure by 2025; 100% clean renewable energy by 2030; and “near-zero” emissions across all sectors by 2040.
The proposal calls for ending fossil fuel production by immediately halting new leasing and infrastructure.
Mr. Biden should adopt “a transformative climate platform that ends the fossil fuel era and ensures a just transition to 100% clean energy while protecting workers and communities,” Kassie Siegel, climate director at Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, said in a statement in support of that plan.
The BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of unions and environmental groups founded by the United Steelworkers and Sierra Club, have thrown its support behind Mr. Biden’s plan.
Last month, the group released a poll that showed white working-class voters in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were dissatisfied with Mr. Trump and could be persuaded to vote for Mr. Biden with a message of job creation and the environmental protection.
“Donald Trump is beatable in November, and some of the very same voters that helped put him in the White House can help kick him out,” Jason Walsh, executive director of the group, said in a statement released with the poll. “But Joe Biden has to prove to these voters that he stands with him to earn their votes.”
The undecideds
The outcome of the elections may come down to undecided voters like those in the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 66 in Pittsburgh.
Jim Kunz, the union’s business manager, said neither presidential candidate has done enough to earn the endorsement of his 7,000 members who have benefited greatly from the natural gas boom but also support nuclear and renewables.
Mr. Kunz has not hid his animosity toward Mr. Trump. In 2016, he withdrew the union’s sponsorship from the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s annual conference in Pittsburgh after learning Mr. Trump would deliver a stump speech.
But he said Mr. Biden has not been forceful enough in defending natural gas. And he remains unconvinced clean energy can provide enough good-paying jobs.
“This document talks about all of these jobs that we’re gonna have from clean energy, but I don’t know what they are,” Mr. Kunz said. “Wind and solar are not gonna provide the same level of jobs that natural gas does, and, in all honesty, other fossil fuels.”
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, Twitter @PGdanielmoore
First Published: July 19, 2020, 10:00 a.m.