Pennsylvania

Fact check: A president can’t ban fracking in Pennsylvania | WITF

Published

1 year ago

September 12, 2024

Press Room

$Fact check: A president can’t ban fracking in Pennsylvania | WITF$

September 12, 2024 | 9:14 AM

Former President Donald Trump claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris would ban fracking if she is elected president, which she wouldn’t have the power to do.

Susan Phillips

Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people’s every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan’s coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania’s natural gas rush called “The Shale Game.” She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

$FILE - Work continues at a shale gas well drilling site in St. Mary's, Pa., March 12, 2020. Facing the need to win Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris has sworn off any prior assertion that she opposed fracking. But that hasn't stopped Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump from wielding her now-abandoned position as to win over working-class voters in the key battleground state where the industry means jobs. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)$

FILE – Work continues at a shale gas well drilling site in St. Mary’s, Pa., March 12, 2020. Facing the need to win Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris has sworn off any prior assertion that she opposed fracking. But that hasn’t stopped Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump from wielding her now-abandoned position as to win over working-class voters in the key battleground state where the industry means jobs. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

Fracking for natural gas in Pennsylvania took up significant airtime during the presidential debate Tuesday night at the National Constitution Center in Old City, especially when you consider how little influence a president has when it comes to drilling for oil and gas in the state.

In such a tight presidential race, Pennsylvania will be a hard-fought swing state. So, of course, we have to talk about fracking.

Former President Donald Trump is all for it, and at Tuesday’s debate, he claimed Vice President Kamala Harris is not.

“And she will never allow fracking in Pennsylvania. If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one,” Trump said.

There’s a big problem with Trump’s statement because a president can’t “ban fracking” in Pennsylvania, only an act of Congress will accomplish that.

When you hear talk about banning fracking by a president – that is limited to federal land. And the state has virtually no federal land to frack. The Allegheny National Forest, in the north central part of the state, is the only place where federal leases exist, and they span about 850 acres.

The vast majority of leases are on private land, something a president cannot touch. The state also leases land to oil and gas development – in 2020 those leases included about 250,000 acres.

Harris, who favored a fracking ban when she first ran for president back in 2019, changed her position once she joined President Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate.

“Let’s talk about fracking because we are here in Pennsylvania,” she said. “I made that very clear in 2020. I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States.”

To be clear, a vice president can’t ban fracking on any private or state-owned land in Pennsylvania either.

Vice President Harris did say correctly that oil and gas development has increased over the past four years under President Biden.

In January, E&E News reported that federal leases for oil and gas development also increased under Biden.

And while most voters don’t make their presidential decisions based on fracking, it’s one of those issues where you’re either for it or against it. It’s what’s known as a wedge issue, which Trump is using to define himself in contrast to Harris, as he did in the 2020 race against Biden. This will likely continue despite both parties’ support for fracking, and the fact that it’s, again, not something a president can do much about in Pennsylvania even if they wanted to.

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Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Lottery Powerball, Pick 2 Day results for Dec. 20, 2025

Published

7 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

The Pennsylvania Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025 results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

04-05-28-52-69, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 3

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 2 numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

Day: 2-2, Wild: 2

Evening: 5-3, Wild: 9

Check Pick 2 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

Day: 2-0-0, Wild: 2

Evening: 4-6-7, Wild: 9

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

Day: 6-6-7-9, Wild: 2

Evening: 1-1-7-1, Wild: 9

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 5 numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

Day: 9-9-1-2-6, Wild: 2

Evening: 8-1-9-3-5, Wild: 9

Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash4Life numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

14-24-26-42-45, Cash Ball: 04

Check Cash4Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash 5 numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

05-07-08-37-38

Check Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Treasure Hunt numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

03-06-08-16-18

Check Treasure Hunt payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Match 6 Lotto numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

10-13-22-31-35-45

Check Match 6 Lotto payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from Dec. 20 drawing

05-08-19-23-43, Powerball: 06

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

Sign the Ticket: Ensure your ticket has your signature, name, address and phone number on the back.
Prizes up to $600: Claim at any PA Lottery retailer or by mail: Pennsylvania Lottery, ATTN: CLAIMS, PO BOX 8671, Harrisburg, PA 17105.
Prizes from $600 to $2,500: Use a Claim Form to claim at a retailer or by mail: Pennsylvania Lottery, ATTN: CLAIMS, PO BOX 8671, Harrisburg, PA 17105.
Prizes over $2,500: Mail your signed ticket with a Claim Form or in person at a Lottery Area Office (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

Lottery Headquarters is currently not open to the public. Visit the PA Lottery website for other office locations near you.

When are the Pennsylvania Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 11 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 2, 3, 4, 5: 1:35 p.m. and 6:59 p.m. daily.
Cash4Life: 9 p.m. daily.
Cash 5: 6:59 p.m. daily.
Treasure Hunt: 1:35 p.m. daily.
Match 6 Lotto: 6:59 p.m. Monday and Thursday.
Powerball Double Play: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Pennsylvania editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Powerball lottery ticket wins $1 million as jackpot grows to $1.5 billion

Published

19 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Pennsylvania Powerball lottery ticket wins million as jackpot grows to .5 billion

article

FILE – Powerball logo displayed on a phone screen and coins are seen in this illustration photo.

PHILADELPHIA – A Powerball ticket sold in Pennsylvania matched five numbers in Wednesday night’s drawing, winning $1 million, according to lottery officials.

What we know:

The Pennsylvania ticket was one of several nationwide that matched all five white balls. The ticket did not include the Power Play multiplier.

Because no one matched all six numbers, the Powerball jackpot continues to climb. The next drawing will feature an estimated $1.5 billion jackpot, with a cash option of $689.3 million.

Winning numbers (Dec. 17, 2025)

25 – 33 – 53 – 62 – 66
Powerball: 17
Power Play: 4x

The Pennsylvania Lottery has not yet announced where the winning ticket was sold.

What’s next:

The next Powerball drawing takes place Saturday night, Dec. 20. The estimated jackpot is an astounding $1.5 billion.

The Source: This article is based on official Powerball drawing results.

LotteryPennsylvania

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Pennsylvania

More than $22 million in

Published

1 day ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

More than $22 million in “Money Match” checks were mailed to nearly 100,000 Pennsylvanians, the treasury said.

In a news release on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Treasury said people should be on the lookout for the checks, which are part of the Pennsylvania Money Match program. Treasurer Stacy Garrity said to cash or deposit the checks “promptly.”

The first Pennsylvania Money Match checks, totaling more than $1.7 million, are now on the way to Pennsylvanians’ mailboxes. Pennsylvania Money Match is a new program that allows Treasury to return certain unclaimed property to rightful owners automatically, which was approved unanimously by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor last year.

“I want Pennsylvanians to know that this is a real check, it is real money, and it belongs to them,” Garrity said in the news release. “And as always, I still encourage everyone to regularly search for unclaimed property online, as many claims will not qualify for the Money Match process.”

With the mailing of the year’s last batch of checks, more than $50 million will have been returned automatically to Pennsylvanians.

What are Money Match checks?

The program allows the state treasury to automatically return unclaimed property valued up to $500 owned by a single individual. Before the program was created in 2024, residents themselves had to seek out unclaimed property.

“I’m thrilled to continue this program as we work hard to get more money back to its rightful owners,” Garrity said in the news release.

However, if the property has multiple owners or is valued higher than $500, Pennsylvanians still need to file a claim.

What is unclaimed property?

Unclaimed property includes dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten stocks, rebates and insurance policies, among other things. It can also include the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes.

According to the state treasury, more than one in 10 Pennsylvanians is owed some of the $5 billion in unclaimed property in the treasury’s care, and the average value of a claim is more than $1,000.