Kamala Harris seen as tougher opponent of oil industry than Biden

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Ari Natter

As California attorney general, Kamala Harris brought lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, prosecuted a pipeline company over an oil leak and investigated Exxon Mobil Corp. for misleading the public about climate change. 
 

Now, with the vice president suddenly in contention for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid Sunday, that track record is of deep interest to both the US energy industry and climate activists alike. A potential Harris presidency is seen being more aggressive than Biden in confronting oil companies for pollution and addressing environmental justice.

“She is the kind of leader who will hold the fossil fuel industry accountable, and that’s what we need right now,” Representative Jared Huffman, a Democrat from Harris’ home state of California, said in an interview. “She would absolutely carry on and build on the success of the Biden administration on climate and clean energy.”

 

While Harris wouldn’t be likely to make major shifts to the direction Biden charted on climate change, her opposition to offshore drilling and fracking suggests she’d be a fierce oil industry antagonist if she secures the Democratic nomination and were to win the White House in November.  

Analysts and environmental advocates say Harris’ approach toward fossil fuel development puts her to the left of Biden, who moved to temporarily halt offshore oil lease sales his first week in office but didn’t follow through on his campaign promise to completely ban new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters. 

For instance, Harris in 2019 called for a ban on fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, the oil industry practice used to coax oil and gas from dense rock formations, although Biden never supported the move. She’s also been particularly critical of offshore oil development, seeking to limit new drilling off the California coast and, as the state’s attorney general, going to court to challenge the federal government’s permitting of fracking in Pacific waters.

Environmental advocates said Sunday that Harris would be unflinching against fossil fuel companies. “Vice President Harris has a history of standing up to Big Oil,” said Jeff Ordower of 350 Action.

To be sure, Harris’ role as California’s attorney general — a position she held for six years — put her in a naturally combative stance against companies alleged to have violated state laws. There’s no guarantee she’d be so pugilistic in the White House. 

Yet, Harris emphasised her California fights against oil companies when she campaigned for president in 2019. “Kamala knows we need to take on big oil companies to win this fight — and that’s exactly what she’s done throughout her career,” according to her presidential campaign website’s climate platform.

At the time, Harris outlined plans to step up federal environmental enforcement and “hold polluters accountable,” including by directing the Justice Department “to address both cumulative and legacy pollution.” That scope could mean policing companies for historic emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide tied to the combustion of oil and gas. 

“Kamala will prioritise public health and force polluters to pay for the harm they cause by increasing penalties for companies found out of compliance with federal laws,” her campaign promised.

As California’s attorney general, Harris policed environmental infractions and joined other states in defending Obama-era climate policies. Her office also was part of a multi-state investigation into whether Exxon Mobil Corp. misled the public about climate change.

Harris filed numerous lawsuits targeting utilities and oil companies for conventional pollution, including a 2016 case against Southern California Gas Co., over the methane leak from its Aliso Canyon storage site. In 2016, her office secured a $14 million settlement with BP Plc subsidiaries over allegations they failed to stop underground storage tanks from leaking gasoline at nearly 800 fuel stations across California. 

Under Harris, California previously obtained other multi-million-dollar settlements with Phillips 66, ConocoPhillips, Chevron USA and Chevron Stations Inc. to resolve similar allegations related to leaking underground gasoline tanks, according to her office. And after a pipeline ruptured and spilled approximately 140,000 gallons of oil, Harris’ office brought criminal indictments against Houston-based Plains American Pipeline LP.

Harris’ intense focus on making polluters pay and environmental justice created a distinction from Biden during the 2020 race, noted RL Miller, a California Democratic National Committee delegate.

“She would largely carry on Joe Biden’s legacy — but with emphasis on those points,” Miller said. “She would take it to the next level.”

Like Biden, Harris has been unequivocal in calling the climate crisis an emergency, saying last year it is “one of the most urgent matters of our time.”

In the Senate, she co-sponsored legislation advancing the principles of the Green New Deal, which called for a 10-year national mobilisation to eliminate emissions, transition to emission-free power and overhaul the nation’s transportation systems. Although the Inflation Reduction Act enacted under Biden is the nation’s most sweeping climate law, it still does not have the reach of the Green New Deal advocated by some Democratic progressives.

Harris also has focused closely on environmental justice, both in California as attorney general and when she represented the state in the US Senate. 

For instance, as the state’s top prosecutor, Harris joined a lawsuit challenging a proposed warehouse in Riverside County amid concerns would have drawn more diesel truck traffic and pollution to the neighboring community.

And while on Capitol Hill, Harris teamed up with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, to advance legislation that would force the government to assess the impact of bills and regulations on front-line and low-income that often bear the brunt of pollution. 

While Harris might bring more intensity to some fights over energy and the environment, her platform isn’t likely to be much different than that of Biden, who made fighting climate change a top priority in the White House.

Ultimately, her No. 1 job — and that for any Democrat seeking the party’s presidential nomination — would be preserving Biden’s agenda in court, said Kevin Book, managing director of the Washington consulting firm ClearView Energy Partners LLC. 

While Republican nominee Donald Trump could use an array of powers to reverse Biden-era climate policies, Harris could lock those changes in, Book said, adding: “We would expect that to be priority No. 1 one for a Harris presidency — defending the Biden legacy.”