Battleground 2020: the politics of energy

In this installment of Battleground 2020 we'll talk about energy politics in Pennsylvania and how the split in voters’ attitudes could influence the 2020 election.

Air Date: March 5, 2020 10:00 am

$A worker walks on top of a container of chemicals used in the making of a brine water that is then pumped below the surface in a hydraulic fracturing process to release natural gas from shale deposits at a gas well site in Zelienople, Pa. A new fee on gas drilling has generated millions of dollars more in revenue than first projected, but other major gas-producing states tax the industry at higher rates. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photo, file)$

A worker walks on top of a container of chemicals used in the making of a brine water that is then pumped below the surface in a hydraulic fracturing process to release natural gas from shale deposits at a gas well site in Zelienople, Pa. A new fee on gas drilling has generated millions of dollars more in revenue than first projected, but other major gas-producing states tax the industry at higher rates. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photo, file)

Guests: Christina Simeone, Umair Irfan, Reid Frazier

In our third installment of Battleground 2020 we’ll talk about energy politics in Pennsylvania and how the split in voters’ attitudes could influence the outcome of the 2020 election. Pennsylvania has become the nation’s second largest producer of the fossil fuel in the ten years since natural gas was discovered in in the Commonwealth. And while natural gas releases less greenhouse gases, fracking presents serious environmental risks. Concerns about climate change vs. the economic benefit of oil and gas production has become one of the most contentious issues among Pennsylvania voters and whether or not to ban fracking has divided the Democratic party’s candidates. We’ll get an overview of the State’s energy sector from CHRISTINA SIMEONE, former director of policy and external affairs at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Then we’ll hear from UMAIR IRFAN, a VOX staff writer covering energy and the environment, about the pros and cons of natural gas production, and REID FRAZIER, an energy reporter for The Allegheny Front and State Impact Pennsylvania.

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