Vice President Harris’s ascendance as the likely Democratic nominee has sent a wave of excitement through environmental advocates and climate hawks in Congress, who point to her history of investigating the oil industry and support for the Green New Deal in the Senate.
Environmental issues have not been a major part of Harris’s portfolio as vice president, but advocates see her as a figure who both has bona fides on the issue and is positioned to generate enthusiasm among younger and more progressive voters who were ambivalent about President Biden’s reelection bid.
“I think she deserves more credit than she often gets in this area,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director at Evergreen Action. “She’s made it a priority of the offices she’s overseen going back two decades in a way that’s really impressive.”
Harris’s tenure as California Attorney General included a 2016 investigation into allegations that ExxonMobil knowingly concealed the impacts of fossil fuels on climate change, although no case was ultimately filed. The same year, her office reached a $14 million settlement with BP subsidies over allegations the companies had not properly secured leaky underground gas tanks at California stations, and brought criminal indictments against a Houston pipeline operator over a 2015 rupture in Santa Barbara County.
As a senator and presidential candidate, Harris staked out positions to Biden’s left on climate and energy issues. Unlike Biden, she supported a fracking ban and the ambitious suite of climate actions introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) known as the Green New Deal.
“We’re seeing this enthusiasm for a reason,” Moffitt said. “She has gone out on a limb to show leadership in this area.”
The same positions that are inspiring enthusiasm among environmental advocates could also fuel attacks from conservatives, however.
Former President Trump has frequently, and misleadingly, conflated Biden’s energy policies with the Green New Deal. Those attacks could take on a new context against an opponent who has backed the policies.
Republicans have already indicated a willingness to attack Harris — and other Democrats — over her positions.
As early as July 12, more than a week before Biden officially withdrew from seeking reelection, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), a vocal Trump ally, told Fox News’s Shannon Bream that if Trump were to run against Harris, he would invoke her “co-sponsor[ing] this radical Green New Deal.”
And Rep. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), the GOP Senate nominee against Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), swiftly sought to tie Casey to Harris’s previous support for a fracking ban.
Former President Trump also pointed to Harris’s past support for a fracking ban, among other positions she has taken, as he attacked her during a Wednesday rally as an “ultra liberal” and a “lunatic.”
It’s unclear whether she would still back a fracking ban as president. Harris walked back her support for such a ban after joining Biden, who opposed one, on the Democratic ticket in 2020.
The issue has a particular prevalence now because Pennsylvania, the nation’s second-largest natural gas-producing state, is also a critical swing state in the upcoming election.
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign referred The Hill to a campaign statement about Trump’s reported promise to oil executives to roll back environmental regulations in exchange for $1 billion in campaign contributions, as well as noting record U.S. oil production under the current administration.
The Trump campaign has called those reports “false,” and a source who confirmed Trump’s request to The Hill denied a quid pro quo was proposed.
Democratic strategist Mark Longabaugh said attacks related to Harris’s environmental record will likely come her way no matter what.
“I think [Democratic] candidates and the environmental community need to lean in on these things,” he said.
Specifically, Longabaugh said Harris can go on the offensive against Trump on environmental issues by contrasting her and the Biden administration’s records with Trump’s, as well as his reported reported remarks to oil executives.
“I believe the Republicans and Trump will try and make those attacks, I just don’t think they’ll stick if we do the work that’s necessary in any political campaigns,” Longabaugh told The Hill.
In addition to environmental groups, Harris also received high marks from some members of the congressional Democratic caucus who have long pressured Biden for aggressive action on climate and the environment.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that Harris, who has invoked her law enforcement background to draw a contrast with Trump’s recent felony convictions, could make a similar argument to take on polluters as president.
“I do think that that that fighting bad guys and protecting the planet is popular and there’s nobody better positioned to fight the bad guys and protect the planet than a former prosecutor,” he said.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Ca.), a member of the House Natural Resources Committee who has confirmed he has ambitions of chairing it, said Harris is “going to be great” on the environment as president.
“She is going to prosecute the case in every way against Trump’s Project 2025,” Huffman said, referencing the Heritage Foundation’s policy manifesto for a future Republican administration, which includes calls to make sharp reversals on environmental policies. Former President Trump has sought to distance himself from the project, though much of it was written by former members of his administration.
“She’s going to bring the best of this administration’s record forward for another four years,” Huffman continued. “She’s going to bring her own unique California-based perspective on innovation and clean energy, and I just can’t wait. It’s really exciting.”
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who chaired the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis before it was disbanded under the Republican majority, said she would be “very much” excited about a Harris presidency, saying she could specifically speak to climate change as an economic issue.
“She’s been committed to everyday Americans and lowering their costs, and people now are more awake than ever to what climate change is doing to their pocketbooks,” Castor told The Hill. Florida in particular has seen numerous insurers exit the state due to a combination of fraud rates and increasingly costly natural disasters.
It’s not clear how much, if any, of the current cabinet a hypothetical Harris administration would leave in place, but Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan have both been broadly popular among climate-focused voters and advocacy groups.
Regan was noncommittal on whether he would remain at the EPA under a Harris administration, telling The Hill “I’ve learned not to get out ahead of any conversations that I’ve had with the president and the vice president.”
Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz told The Hill in a statement, “Secretary Haaland is committed to fulfilling the mission of the Department and ensuring that communities, wildlife and Tribal Nations thrive. We have nothing further to offer.”
Rachel Frazin contributed.