Elizabeth Warren Promises Day One Executive Order on Fossil Fuel Leases, Pledges to Ban Fracking

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Friday promised to sign an executive order on her first day in office, putting a moratorium on new fossil fuel leases and pledged to ban fracking “everywhere.”

Warren promised in a tweet Friday to “sign an executive order that puts a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases for drilling offshore and on public lands” and vowed to “ban fracking — everywhere”:

Warren’s pledge to ban fracking follows Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) call, urging fellow Democrat candidates to support a “fracking ban on public and private lands.”

“Fracking is a danger to our water supply. It’s a danger to the air we breathe. It causes earthquakes. It’s highly explosive. Safe fracking is, like clean coal, pure fiction,” Sanders said in a statement Wednesday.

“But, most importantly, methane from natural gas contributes to climate change and is setting us on a path to disaster,” he added. “When we are in the White House, we will end the era of fossil fuels, and that includes fracking”:

Ten Democrat candidates participated in CNN’s seven-hour climate change town hall Wednesday, and many signaled support for the implementation of a carbon tax as well as plastic straw bans, actions on meat consumption, and the end of fracking.

“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said during the town hall.

“Starting with what we can do on day one around public lands and then there has to be legislation, but yes. This is something I’ve taken on in California, I have a history of working on this issue,” she added.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said he would ban fracking “right away on public lands.”

Warren released her comprehensive climate change proposal — inspired by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) — ahead of CNN’s town hall. It called for the decarbonization of the economy and 100 percent clean energy over the next decade.

While Warren did not go as far as Sanders in calling for the complete public ownership of utilities, she said she will tell companies that use carbon-based fuel that they are “done” by 2035.

“I’m perfectly willing to take on giant corporations. I think I’ve been known to do that once or twice. But for me, I think the way we get there is we just say, ‘sorry guys, but by 2035, you’re done,’” she said during CNN’s town hall.