President Donald Trump on Oct. 26 appeared at several rallies in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, arguing that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will kill the state’s economy and energy industry.
“We win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing,” the Republican president said at an event in Allentown.
Trump went from Allentown to Lititz before visiting Martinsburg. Trump also has scheduled multiple stops in Michigan and Wisconsin this week, as well as visits to Arizona, Nebraska, and Nevada.
Biden appeared in Pennsylvania on Oct. 24 and spoke to several news outlets about his energy policy when asked about whether he would “transition from oil.”
Trump said of Biden: “He wants to go with windmills that are made in Germany and China. ... Biden’s plan is an economic death sentence for Pennsylvania’s energy sector.
“He will eradicate your energy and send Pennsylvania into a crippling depression.”
After the Oct. 22 debate, Biden said that oil “has to be replaced by renewable energy over time, over time” and that as president, he'd “stop giving to the oil industry ... stop giving them federal subsidies.”
His campaign also has stated that he will not call for the total elimination of the oil and gas industries, although he has proposed ending federal leases on oil and gas drilling on federal land while ending subsidies to fossil fuels. Pennsylvania, after Texas, is the second-greatest producer of natural gas in the United States.
After the debate, the Trump campaign unveiled a new advertisement aimed at voters in Pennsylvania using Biden’s remarks about fracking, claiming he would end the important fracking industry in the state.
Biden, speaking to WBRE in Wilkes-Barre over the weekend, said he would “not ban fracking,” adding that he favors “no fracking on federal land.”
“The coal and natural gas industry and oil is not going to be fundamentally changed. They’re already in transition,” Biden said. “What I’m saying is, we will not continue to subsidize—give tax breaks—to oil companies which come out to $40 billion. They will not get that money. It will be put into research and development to figure out how to carbon capture what’s coming off gas and oil.”
In another interview, Biden emphasized his Pennsylvanian roots. The former vice president was born in the state and has frequently mentioned he is from Scranton, in a bid to court voters.
“Look I’m from Scranton, Pennsylvania. My great-grandfather was a mining engineer. So I come from coal country. And I’m not talking about eliminating fracking, I just said no more fracking on federal lands,” Biden told CBS Philadelphia. “With regard to gas, oil, coal all of it, the transition is taking place, having nothing to do with anything I’m proposing. The fact is that the fastest growing industries in the country are solar and wind.”
Biden then attempted to clarify his comment that he made during the debate, saying that wanted to “stop the subsidies for oil,” adding that the United States should “invest it in new technologies for what they call carbon capture. We’re going to still need oil,” as reported by WNEP.
