President Harris Is the Perfect Person to Prosecute the Case Against Big Oil

Kamala Harris enters into the presidential race with a strong record on climate. As U.S. President Joe Biden’s vice president, she helped preside over the largest climate legislation in history, acted as the country’s highest ranking official at the United Nations climate talks, and toured the country promoting clean energy and speaking out about the need to protect environmental justice. As a senator and presidential candidate, Harris said she’d repeal the filibuster to pass a Green New Deal, opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline, and teamed up with New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez on a “climate equity” bill.

But perhaps the most exciting thing that Harris brings to the climate fight is this: She’s the perfect person to prosecute the case against Big Oil.

As we now know, the fossil fuel industry knew conclusively by the 1970s that the continued use of their product would cause catastrophic climate damages. Just last week, journalists uncovered a 1977 article from Marathon Oil that predicted “mass starvation” due to climate disruptions. But instead of warning the public, the industry went on to spread disinformation about the crisis and lobby against climate action (during the Trump Administration, Marathon was at the forefront of an industry attempt to gut automobile emissions standards).

With nearly all Americans now feeling the impacts of the climate crisis, the push to make polluters pay for the damage they’ve done has never been stronger.

It was the crime of the century—and one that we’ve just begun to prosecute. Right now, 10 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Big Oil. A couple dozen cities, counties, and tribal governments have joined them. But the federal government has been notably absent. The Department of Justice failed to take up the case (despite the repeated requests by leading members of Congress), and there’s a prevailing sense that Attorney General Merrick Garland has little interest in pursuing the matter.

All that could change under President Harris. A lifetime ago, when Harris ran in the 2019 Democratic primary for president, CNN asked her at a climate town hall if she’d support a lawsuit against ExxonMobil for lying about the climate crisis. “I have sued ExxonMobil,” she said to applause. As it turned out, that wasn’t quite right. As California’s attorney general, Harris had supported a multistate investigation into what Exxon knew about the climate crisis, but her office never formally filed suit.

Harris had pursued other major polluters, however. In 2016, she played a key role in securing a $15 billion payout from VW over their emissions cheating scandal. As AG, she also went after ConocoPhillips (the company behind the Willow Project in Alaska) for air quality violations at their gas stations and prosecuted a pipeline company for a 2015 spill in Santa Barbara. Before that, as San Francisco district attorney, she set up the city’s first environmental justice division.

From a new perch in the Oval Office, Harris could throw the full weight of the White House behind the prosecution of Big Oil’s climate lies. That could include everything from further empowering the Federal Trade Commission to go after the industry’s price gouging to appointing a new attorney general (perhaps one that’s already suing Big Oil) to lead a new lawsuit on behalf of the Department of Justice.

Harris would certainly have the support of the American people. According to a February poll, 78% of voters agree that oil companies who misled the public about climate change should be held accountable. That includes 91% of Democrats and 85% of Black voters. A DOJ case also has strong support from Democratic elected officials. At the conclusion of their years’ long investigation into Big Oil’s climate deception, the main ask from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and his Democratic colleagues on the Senate Budget Committee was for the DOJ to launch their own investigation. With nearly all Americans now feeling the impacts of the climate crisis, the push to make polluters pay for the damage they’ve done has never been stronger.

This Tuesday, leading Democrats will be hosting a press conference and rally on Capitol Hill to announce a new Make Polluters Pay Agenda that brings together their best proposals for how to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their price gouging, lies, and climate damages. With President Harris in the White House, that agenda could finally become a reality.