Kamala Harris (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The Harris-Walz campaign said that Vice President Kamala Harris doesn't support an expansion of oil drilling in the United States, an apparent attempt to clarify Harris's comments on the campaign trail.

Harris has for weeks touted record-high domestic oil production and championed the moderate increases for fossil fuel leases in the Inflation Reduction Act, raising questions about whether she might back more production as president.

"Just to be clear, Vice President Harris hasn’t said anything that the administration hasn’t already said," Harris-Walz campaign climate engagement director Camila Thorndike told Politico in an interview Wednesday when asked about Harris's recent statements "promoting fossil fuels."

"She is not promoting expansion," Thorndike said. "She’s just said that they wouldn’t ban fracking and the fact that anyone could look up is that the [Inflation Reduction Act] required leases, and that was not something that she promoted."

Thorndike's comments mark the latest example of the campaign struggling to maintain consistency on hot-button policy issues. Since emerging as Democrats' presidential nominee, Harris has run to the center on energy issues—saying she wouldn't ban fracking and backing away from the Green New Deal—while seeking to maintain the support of climate activists who have largely backed her campaign.

Contrary to Thorndike's portrayal, Harris has gone farther than merely pointing out that the Inflation Reduction Act mandated fossil fuel lease sales and has appeared to promote oil and gas drilling.

Harris, for example, boasted that she cast the tie-breaking vote that "actually increased leases for fracking as vice president," during her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee in August. "So I’m very clear about where I stand," Harris added.

Then, during her debate with former president Donald Trump in September, Harris again highlighted that the Inflation Reduction Act requires fossil fuel leases. And she claimed the Biden-Harris administration's policies have led to an increase in domestic oil production.

"My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil," Harris said, opting against ruling out investments in traditional fossil fuel projects. "We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil."

That line has become a Harris favorite—during a Pennsylvania rally last month she again boasted that the United States has experienced the "largest increase in domestic oil production in history" while she has been vice president.

According to the most recent federal data, the United States produced 13.21 million barrels a day in July, close to the all-time record of 13.28 million barrels a day set in November 2023.

Industry officials have argued that the increase in production can be attributed to the ingenuity of energy producers, not the administration's policies.

And while Harris did vote for the Inflation Reduction Act and its modest oil and gas provisions, the Biden-Harris administration has offered substantially fewer acres for fossil fuel leasing than previous administrations stretching back decades, according to a recent Washington Free Beacon analysis. For example, it has issued 671 leases for the purpose of onshore drilling, a staggering decline of 84 percent compared with the Trump administration's first three years in office.

The administration has also locked up tens of millions of acres from oil and gas drilling.

Harris's position on issues related to fracking and energy production figures to play a major role in swing states like Pennsylvania, the nation's second-largest natural gas producer behind only Texas and the home to tens of thousands of fossil fuel industry jobs.

"No matter what she says, Harris has a long record of opposing more fossil fuel production, including off the coast of California, including with fracking, including with her cosponsorship of the Green New Deal," Dan Kish, the senior vice president of policy at the American Energy Alliance, told the Washington Free Beacon. "No, she doesn't support fossil fuels. I think it's a made-up answer to get her through to the election."

The Harris-Walz campaign didn't respond to a request for comment.

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