During a heated presidential debate on Tuesday night, former President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed that Kamala Harris would ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) if she were president. He claimed, “If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania would stop on day one.”

In response, Harris clarified, “I will not ban fracking. I did not ban fracking as vice president of the United States. In fact, I was the deciding vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened up new leases for fracking.”

Trump’s claim was not entirely unfounded, as Harris had previously stated during her 2019 presidential campaign: “There is no question that I support a ban on fracking.”

The reality, however, is more nuanced, as I explained in a 2019 article, Why A Ban On Fracking Will Never Happen. In that article, I pointed out that Harris, along with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, had voiced support for a ban on fracking.

Even Joe Biden campaigned on the motto “no more fracking,” but then changed his position to recognize the need for fracking as part of an energy transition. I wrote about this in detail in Joe Biden Changes to a Realistic Position on Fracking.

The truth is that political candidates often make statements to appeal to their base. Whether Harris was cajoling or at one point genuinely believed that fracking should be banned, there is currently no practical way to stop it.

Fracking, which dates back to the late 1940s, combined with horizontal drilling to fuel a U.S. oil and gas production boom about 20 years ago. This increase in production has made the U.S. the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas.

Most of the production takes place on private land. That means that even if Trump disagrees, Harris doesn’t have the authority to end fracking in Pennsylvania on her first day in office.

New laws are needed to stop fracking. Given the important role fracking plays in U.S. energy production, it is highly unlikely that Congress would pass such a law.

As a result, it is an irrelevant issue. As I wrote in 2019, I still don’t believe there will ever be a ban on fracking.