Democracy Dies in Darkness
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The Energy 202: Kamala Harris brings record on climate change and environmental justice to Biden ticket

Analysis by
Staff writer

with Paulina Firozi

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris to be his running mate, elevating the senator from California who has made climate change a political priority and who will be able to trumpet her state's role in tackling global warming on the national stage.

Harris, who is in her first term, has used her time in Washington to call for reducing pollution in poor and minority communities that often bear the burden of environmental degradation — and to urge that those responsible be held accountable in court.

Harris will be the first Black woman and first Asian American on a major party ticket. Biden brought back his candidacy after trailing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) through a surge of African American support in the South Carolina Democratic primary.

By emphasizing the disparate impact rising temperatures and dirtied air has on people of color, Harris is simpatico with Biden, who in recent months has talked about how unchecked pollution is making the coronavirus pandemic worse. 

Harris's advocacy against environmental racism has extra resonance as the nation goes through a reckoning over race.

Twice in the past two weeks, Harris has introduced legislation meant to protect neighborhoods from environmental discrimination.

Teaming up with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Harris proposed scoring bills in Congress on how much they may hurt poor and minority communities. She also put forward another bill that would reverse a Supreme Court decision making it more difficult for African Americans and other groups to sue under the Civil Rights Act.

“That shows she cares a lot about environmental justice,” said Leah Stokes, a political scientist at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “And so does Joe Biden.”

In an updated climate plan released last month, Biden vowed to funnel 40 percent of the money meant for clean energy into historically disadvantaged areas.

Adding Harris to the ticket may help unify the moderate and liberal halves of the Democratic Party.

During her own bid for the presidential nomination, the Californian positioned herself as a liberal on climate change by pitching a plan with a more aggressive timeline than what Biden and others offered. 

In the Senate, she was a co-sponsor of Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal, a call to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade that sparked a rancorous political debate in Washington. Her own $10 trillion plan for a clean energy transition sought to eliminate carbon pollution from power plants by 2030. 

By contrast, Biden is pitching a $2 trillion climate plan aiming for net-zero power plant emissions by 2035 — still the most extensive climate plan ever offered by a major-party candidate.

During the primary, Harris also called for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — the position she may not stress now that she is campaigning with Biden, who has not taken that position so as not to alienate voters in gas-rich Pennsylvania.

Green groups that have been wary of Biden were cautiously optimistic about his vice presidential pick.

Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, which backed Sanders during the primary, said Harris “showed her responsiveness to activist and movement pressure to make climate a top priority, and demonstrated her willingness to be held accountable.”

Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action, which endorsed both Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), said “her inclusion on the ticket provides another opportunity for Vice President Biden to increase the ambition of his climate plan.”

Former vice president Al Gore, who endorsed Biden last spring, praised Harris for being a “strong advocate” for environmental justice.

Harris may be able to sand off the edges of her record as a prosecutor by emphasizing environmental justice.

At a time when some Democratic Party liberals are calling for police departments to be defunded, Harris has drawn criticism for her time as a prosecutor in California.

But her demands to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for allegedly misleading the public about the causes of climate change may endear her to party progressives.

“Let’s get them not only in the pocketbook," Harris told Mother Jones last year, “but let’s make sure there are severe and serious penalties for their behaviors.” 

During her bid for the Democratic nomination, Harris called for more resources to be funneled to the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency to bring polluters to court.

Before joining the Senate, Harris served as attorney general of California, where she won an indictment against a pipeline company for the spill of approximately 140,000 gallons of heavy crude near Santa Barbara. 

She also secured an $86 million settlement from the German automaker Volkswagen for cheating on emissions tests for its diesel vehicles and opposed the expansion of a Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif., a Bay Area city with a significant Black and Hispanic population.

Her office opened an investigation into ExxonMobil, the nation's largest oil company, about whether it deceived shareholders and others about the risks of climate change to its business. But unlike New York and Massachusetts, California ultimately never brought a case against the company.

Harris's home state is recognized worldwide as a leader on climate issues.

Through a series of statewide legal mandates, California began generating more power from renewable sources than from fossil fuels in 2017. 

That's something that Harris can talk about on the campaign trail as she and Biden pitch a nationwide plan for rapidly reducing emissions across the economy, said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser who is campaigning for Biden.

“Picking Harris is another clear sign that if elected Biden intends a massive clean energy investment-led recovery,” he said.

Harris will also be able to draw on her experience witnessing wildfires scorch thousands of acres of California in recent years. Much of Southern California is warming at double the rate of the continental United States, according to a Washington Post analysis last year, further fueling droughts and blazes in the state.

“Let's recognize the connection between these disasters and climate change,” Harris said in a 2017 Senate floor speech. “We must help each other when these travesties hit, but also we must prepare for the future.”

Power plays

A federal court struck down Trump’s changes to the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act that allowed individuals and corporations to kill birds as long as it wasn’t intentional. 

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni quoted “To Kill a Mockingbird.” “It is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime,” Caproni wrote in a decision that “ripped the administration’s interpretation of ‘takings’ and ‘killings’ of birds under the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act to apply only if the animals are specifically targeted,” Darryl Fears reports.

“There is nothing in the text of the MBTA that suggests that in order to fall within its prohibition, activity must be directed specifically at birds,” Caproni adds in the ruling. “Nor does the statute prohibit only intentionally killing migratory birds. And it certainly does not say that only ‘some’ kills are prohibited.”

“In the administration’s view, even BP, the company responsible for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster that led to the deaths of up to 1 million birds, by some estimates, would not be liable for punishment under the law,” Fears adds. “…Caproni determined that allowing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service police to enforce the act only if they could prove intent was a violation of the federal Administrative Procedures Act and vacated the changes.” 

Political appointees at the Interior Department withheld documents ahead of David Bernhardt’s confirmation to lead the agency, according to the agency's internal watchdog. 

“The finding, detailed in a seven-page report due out Tuesday, comes approximately a year after Interior’s Office of Inspector General began investigating the department’s controversial Freedom of Information Act policy, which gives political appointees the ability to review public information requests prior to their release, and in some cases withhold material altogether,” HuffPost reports.

The inspector general's report found “that soon after President Donald Trump nominated Bernhardt in February 2019 to replace scandal-plagued outgoing Secretary Ryan Zinke, then-counselor to the secretary Hubbel Relat ‘directed staff’ from the department’s solicitor and FOIA offices to ‘temporarily withhold documents related to Bernhardt,’ including communications to and from him, in response to an FOIA lawsuit.”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) issued a joint statement calling for a criminal probe into Interior Solicitor General Daniel Jorjani following the report. 

They want an investigation into whether Jorjani perjured himself before Congress when he told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year that there was no “heightened” Freedom of Information Act review process.

Jorjani oversees the agency’s ethics office and FOIA program.

Every Senate Democrat signed a letter calling on Trump to withdraw his pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management. 

The letter refers to acting BLM director William Perry Pendley’s previous controversial remarks and comments opposing federal ownership of public lands.

“Mr. Pendley’s public record, including his advocacy for reducing public lands and access to them, routine attempts to undermine tribes, and climate change denial makes him unfit for the position,” reads the letter led by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). 

Coronavirus fallout

Some federal workers say they’d sooner retire than return to the office. 

If workers, including Environmental Protection Agency employees, follow through on a plan to retire if they are forced to return to the office during the pandemic, agencies could be left “without key personnel as they shift into the third and final phase of the White House’s post-pandemic reopening plan. Some bureaus, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, have been pushing to reopen their doors at a pace that employees say isn’t supported by the infection and death rate data,” Bloomberg Law reports. “The trend could hit agencies with older workers particularly hard, including the EPA and the Internal Revenue Service.” EPA attorney Andrea Medici said most of the people who have said they’ll retire if forced to return to the office in person are eligible or close to eligible for retirement. 

Numerous EPA employees say they’ve made a cost-benefit analysis that favors staying home. “I would take quite a bit of a hit on my retirement benefits if I retired now, but I’m in a high-risk category for dying or suffering worse effects from the virus,” said one Midwest-based staffer. “I don’t want to go back in an unsafe environment.”

A new report warns California lawmakers that a focus on the pandemic may hinder addressing rising sea levels. 

The report from California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said the state should not delay action to prepare for the impact of sea-level rise, which studies show could put $8 billion in property underwater by 2050, the OC Register reports.

“Because the most severe effects of (sea level rise) likely will manifest decades in the future, taking actions to address them now may seem less pressing compared to the immediate pandemic‑related challenges currently facing the state,” the report reads. “... Waiting too long to initiate adaptation efforts likely will make responding effectively more difficult and costly.”

Oil check

General Motors Co.’s chief financial officer is making a surprise exit. 

“GM confirmed Tuesday that Ms. Suryadevara was leaving the company for an undisclosed opportunity outside the auto industry,” the Wall Street Journal reports, adding that online commerce firm Stipe Inc. confirmed that it hired Dhivya Suryadevara. She will become the CFO at Stripe. 

“Her departure comes as GM tries to regain its footing following the pandemic-related shutdown of its factories this spring, which resulted in the company burning through $9 billion in cash during the second quarter and sent executives scrambling to borrow money. Ms. Suryadevara led efforts to add more than $20 billion to the balance sheet from fresh debt to weather the crisis.”