A Biden administration will not ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) if he wins the November election, his vice presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris (CA), said repeatedly during a debate with Vice President Pence Wednesday night.

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence

Energy and climate change figured more prominently during Wednesday’s contest in Salt Lake City than in the chaotic presidential debate that preceded it last week.

Pence during the debate accused Harris and Joseph R. Biden Jr. of plotting to ban the drilling practice, which has helped make the United States the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas.

“First of all, I will repeat, and the American people know, that Joe Biden will not ban fracking,” Harris said in response to a question about Biden’s view of a so-called Green...