Kamala Harris v. Big Oil?
The new Democratic presidential frontrunner has said the DOJ should “absolutely” investigate the fossil fuel industry.
Isabella Garcia is staff writer at the Center for Climate Integrity. You can follow her here.
On a windy pier in 2019, then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris told Mother Jones that the U.S. Department of Justice should “absolutely” investigate the fossil fuel industry for “creating incredible harm in our communities.”
https://x.com/climatecosts/status/1815410443688525867
“It’s about having the conviction to take these guys into court and to hold them accountable and not backing down,” Harris then told reporter Rebecca Leber, who is now senior investigative researcher at the Center for Climate Integrity, of which ExxonKnews is a project.
Now, after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Harris to be the Democratic nominee, Harris’s previous comments on climate accountability are taking on new significance. As we await more details in this unprecedented moment, let’s take a look at Harris’s previous pledges and actions to hold fossil fuel companies accountable.
As a candidate
During the Democratic presidential primary in 2020, Harris — like many Democratic candidates — stressed the importance of addressing climate change swiftly, saying in 2019 that the “issue of the climate crisis relates to every aspect” of the president’s work. In the same Mother Jones interview, Harris specifically said that fossil fuel companies that lied to the public about the dangers of their products should be held accountable for those actions.
“Everyone that was part of misinforming the public, misleading the public, and false advertising should be held accountable,” Harris said. “Let’s get them not only in the pocketbook, but make sure there are severe and serious penalties for their behaviors.”
Notably, Biden also pledged support during his 2020 presidential campaign for suing fossil fuel companies if they have lied to the public (there is growing evidence that they have), stating “we should go after [fossil fuel companies], just like we did the drug companies, just like we did with the tobacco companies.” While his administration has failed to launch an investigation or sue the fossil fuel industry, the Biden administration submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of communities suing Big Oil, urging the justices to reject the fossil fuel industry's request to review lower court rulings that propelled those lawsuits closer to trial.
As a prosecutor
In her time as California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, Harris filed multiple lawsuits against oil and gas companies over pollution, one of which resulted in a 2016 settlement with a BP subsidy that her office charged with failing to stop underground storage tanks from leaking gasoline at nearly 800 sites across the state. Harris’s office also sued Southern California Gas Co. over a methane leak and obtained multi-million dollar settlements with Phillips 66, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron.
During a 2019 town hall on climate change, Harris erroneously claimed that her office had also sued ExxonMobil, but in reality it had launched an investigation into Exxon’s efforts to mislead the public about climate change. That investigation made no public progress during Harris’ tenure, but current California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Exxon and several of its peers in 2023, citing the companies’ efforts to downplay the harm of fossil fuels and deceive the public about the reality of climate change.
Trump’s pledges
If Harris formally secures the Democratic nomination, she’ll face a Republican opponent with starkly different views on climate and fossil fuel companies.
During Donald Trump’s administration, the Justice Department supported oil and gas companies in their efforts to kill climate lawsuits against them, going as far as to have DOJ attorneys argue alongside Big Oil’s lawyers in front of the Supreme Court. Trump has pledged to continue his efforts to block climate accountability lawsuits against fossil fuel companies if reelected, calling them “frivolous litigation from environmental extremists.”
Earlier this year, Trump made headlines after reportedly telling oil executives that he would roll back the Biden administration’s environmental policies if they gave $1 billion to his campaign.
The next administration’s views on the issue, and who the next president appoints to key roles, could be even more important as the Department of Justice faces two major tests: Members of Congress have referred findings of a year-long investigation into Big Oil to the DOJ for further action, and the U.S. Supreme Court is asking the DOJ to state its views on yet another request from Big Oil to take up a lower court ruling in a climate accountability lawsuit.
 | A guest post by
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I have been working to expose the Oil Industry for many years. I was a gas and Diesel Truck Driver for many years and I could see how the Oil Industry was Lying about the Emissions.
We are in the middle of the Hurricane Season for This Year, 2024.
The Hurricane Season is In full swing.
Climate change is the issue of our times. Biden made difficult progress on some fronts, but the public has still not been told the truth about the imminent economic collapse of drilling for oil. At some point, sooner rather than later, the energy put into harvesting the stuff will no longer create sufficient profit, so it will end. The world economy, both the victors and the victims, is built on oil. Where is the courage and vision to communicate and make a plan for this plain truth?
All future decisions at the top levels of government need to be about transforming the economy to a low consumption model. Without the courage to communicate this and affect profound social change, most if not all Homo sapiens will endure an ugly departure from this planet. Degrowth or dead. https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/degrowth-the-vision-we-must-demand