WASHINGTON: 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 last 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 suggest 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 said 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 ;ast 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 environmental group 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 US$14mil settlement with BP Plc subsidiaries over allegations they failed to stop underground storage tanks from leaking fuel 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 fuel tanks, according to her office.

And after a pipeline ruptured and spilled approximately 530,000 litres 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 R. L. 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 emissions-free power and overhaul the nation’s transportation systems.

 - Bloomberg