President Donald Trump, during an Oct. 31 rally in Pennsylvania, announced an executive order to protect fracking as he focuses on putting Democratic nominee Joe Biden on the defensive after the former vice president’s comments about potentially limiting or ending the practice.
“Moments ago, I signed an executive order to protect Pennsylvania fracking and block any effort to undermine energy production in your state,” Trump told the crowd. “So if one of these maniacs come along and they say end fracking ... I signed it on the beautiful Marine One.”
In the third and final debate, Biden repeatedly said he wouldn’t ban fracking but made a questionable comment about the oil industry, saying he “would transition from oil.”
Trump replied that “that is a big statement.” Trump, in his rallies and advertisements, said a Biden administration would destroy the U.S. energy industry, warning supporters in battleground states such as Pennsylvania that his opponent’s energy plan would be a “death sentence” for their economies.
The White House said Trump is working to create “reliable, affordable energy” as it “is essential to our Nation’s well-being, our economic strength and global competitiveness, and our national security.”
Some 57,000 people attended the rally for Trump’s reelection in Butler County as the president works to shore up his support in the key battleground state ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Trump held four rallies in Pennsylvania that day, and he’s slated to hold several more before Election Day.
Photos and video footage of the event showed what appeared to be tens of thousands of supporters at the event as Trump spoke.