EarthTalk®
From the Editors of E – The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk: What is Kamala Harris’s track record on environmental issues? – T.C., via email
Since the start of her political career, Kamala Harris has repeatedly proven her commitment to a wide variety of ecological matters. While she’s taken a broad stance on climate change and other issues, throughout her career she prioritized environmental racism and the intersection of green policies with social justice. Harris has proven her mettle in prioritizing environmental justice throughout her management of climate disasters, her lawsuits against oil and gas companies, and passing legislation to promote climate equity and reduce environmental hazards in historically oppressed neighborhoods.
Harris has taken positive climate action ever since she created the nation’s first environmental justice department during her time as San Francisco’s district attorney (2004-2011). She only prosecuted a few small polluting companies, but it stood as an early example of how the justice system could address criminal polluters. When Harris became California’s attorney general, she filed many more lawsuits against energy companies like ExxonMobil and Phillips 66, and even shut down one that had nine criminal charges against them. She also demonstrated a strong stance on the risks of climate change in Congress, where she was among a minority of senators who co-sponsored the Green New Deal in 2018. And she worked with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to create the Climate Equity Act, to hold federal agencies accountable for their environmental actions, and emphasize investments to communities of color.
After being elected vice president, Harris furthered her green goals by promoting and supporting the Inflation Reduction Act, alongside other pieces of climate-positive legislation. She would also announce an American commitment to increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency at the COP28 climate talks, where she was the highest-ranking U.S. official. Harris continued to advocate for environmental justice by prioritizing the provision of equitable aid to marginalized groups of hurricane victims in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, in spite of some national pushback to aid richer neighborhoods first. She also actively campaigned for the replacement of lead drinking pipes in disadvantaged communities in Milwaukee and Newark, which have not historically been given a voice in the federal government.
Many eco-activists and groups have already announced their support for Kamala Harris in the coming election. If she is elected this November, the hope is that she’ll double down on her goals for environmental justice and renewable energy by providing the capacity for pollution cuts in agriculture and heavy industry, and by shutting down Michigan’s line 5, an oil line that has the potential to pollute large amounts of clean water in the event of a spill or leak.
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