Trump Says He Signed Executive Order to Protect Fracking

President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Reading, Pa., on Oct. 31, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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.

“Under my Administration, we are no longer beholden to foreign powers or domestic radicals. We are powering our Nation on our own terms,” Trump said, according to the White House, which published details of his executive order to protect hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.

While speaking in Montoursville, Trump said he signed the executive order.

“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.”

During several rallies in Pennsylvania, Trump focused on the state’s industry and the economy, while saying Biden would move to restrict fracking. During the Democratic primaries, Biden made confusing remarks about fracking and, at one point, said he “would make sure it’s eliminated” when he was asked about fracking and the coal industry.

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.

“Pennsylvania oil and natural gas supports nearly 1 million jobs,” Trump said in Butler County, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 31. “So, when sleepy Joe heard that, he said ‘Yeah, of course, I like fracking,’ but it’s not going to happen.”

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.