Most Rust Belt Voters Support Fracking: Poll

‘Forrest Gump’ Author Winston Groom Dead at 77

FAIRHOPE, Ala.—Winston Groom, the writer whose novel “Forrest Gump” was made into a six-Oscar winning 1994 movie that became a soaring pop cultural phenomenon, has died at age 77. Mayor Karin Wilson of Fairhope, Alabama, said in a message on social media that Groom had died in that south Alabama town. A local funeral home also confirmed the death and said arrangements were pending. “While he will be remembered for creating Forrest Gump, Winston Groom was a talented journalist & noted author of American history. Our hearts & prayers are extended to his family,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. “Forrest Gump” was the improbable tale of a slow-witted but mathematically gifted man who was a participant or witness to key points of 20th century history—from Alabama segregationist…

The plurality of voters in key battleground states in the rust belt support fracking as a means of increasing oil and natural gas production in the United States, according to The Epoch Times’ Rust Belt Poll.

More than 39 percent of the likely and registered voters in the rust-belt states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin support fracking, more than 33 percent oppose, and 27 percent are undecided, according to the poll.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has said he would ban all “all “oil drilling or gas drilling on federal lands,” a plan which one by one estimate results in the loss of 1 million jobs. President Donald Trump supports fracking.

Fracking is a common term for hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting oil and gas from parts of the earth’s crust inaccessible by conventional drilling methods.

Trump has suggested that Biden would ban all fracking, which is an exaggeration of Biden’s current proposal for a limited ban on federal lands.

“Biden—he wants to end fracking, end petroleum products—end petroleum. No natural gas, no nothing. End everything. And that’s it. How does that work in Texas? How does that work in Pennsylvania?” Trump said at an event in Virginia on Aug. 21.

The president was likely referring to the potential future prospects for the fracking industry under Biden’s overall energy plan, which calls for all of America’s electricity to be produced without carbon emissions and for a rapid, government-subsidized transition to electric cars. Biden claims his plan would create one million jobs.

“I am not banning fracking. Let me say that again. I am not banning fracking, no matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me,” Biden said during a speech in western Pennsylvania, home to one of the world’s largest natural gas deposits.

Support for fracking is split among ideological lines. More than 65 percent of conservatives support it, compared to 15.6 percent of liberals.

The rust belt states will likely play a crucial role in determining the winner of the presidential election on Nov. 3. Rust belt voters surveyed for The Epoch Times poll favor Biden (46.7 percent) over Trump (40.7 percent).

Environmental activists say fracking can pollute underground aquifers, an assertion the industry says is overblown. The drilling technology has seen a surge in domestic oil and gas production, upsetting groups concerned about climate change but trumpeted by others as a win for U.S. energy security, reducing reliance on oil from the Middle East.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Focus News: Most Rust Belt Voters Support Fracking: Poll

Record-Breaking Storm Season Spawns Slow-Moving Beta Along an Already Battered Gulf Coast

Tropical Storm Alpha, named Friday, took the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season into the Greek alphabet for only the second time in recorded history. The only other time the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has had to pull names from the Greek Alphabet was the historic 2005 hurricane season. Now there’s Beta. Just a few hours after Alpha was named, Tropical Storm Beta was named in the Gulf of Mexico. Beta is expected to strengthen this weekend as it slowly tracks to the northwest toward the Texas coastline. However, Beta will likely not intensify into a hurricane. “The intensity guidance has trended downward to the point where none of the models are currently forecasting Beta to become a hurricane,” according to the NHC on Saturday morning. Beta’s biggest threat will be heavy…