Ocasio-Cortez introduces national fracking ban

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), along with Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) officially introduced a national fracking ban in the House.

The bill, announced at the end of last month, serves as a companion bill to the Senate legislation proposed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), one that Ocasio-Cortez helped draft. Both bills would ban fracking across the nation by 2025. 

The laws would also prohibit fracking within 2,500 feet of homes and schools by February 2021. They also would provide a transition for working families in the fracking industry.

“Fracking is destroying our land and our water,” Ocasio-Cortez posted on Twitter. “It is wreaking havoc on our communities’ health. We must do our job to protect our future from the harms caused by the fracking industry. That is why I am proud to introduce the Fracking Ban Act with @RepDarrenSoto today.”

Fracking is destroying our land and our water. It is wreaking havoc on our communities’ health. We must do our job to protect our future from the harms caused by the fracking industry. That is why I am proud to introduce the Fracking Ban Act with @RepDarrenSoto today. pic.twitter.com/Mt7EEUxPPo

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) February 12, 2020

Soto said in a statement that fracking poses a hazard to “our health, safety and environment.”

“If we want to transition from fossil fuel emissions as we work towards building a 100 percent clean economy, pulling back from fracking is a critical first step,” he said. “Failure to act will only make the crisis at hand even more detrimental for future generations of Americans.” 

Sanders has vowed during his presidential campaign to eliminate fracking in the country if he wins in 2020.

American Petroleum Institute spokeswoman Bethany Aronhalt told The Hill in a statement last month that a ban could produce an increase in household energy costs.

“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,” she said after the Senate bill was first announced.