Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo
Then-California Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris took questions from the media after a briefing on the Santa Barbara oil spill at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, California, June 4, 2015.
A recent outbreak of fire tornadoes in California has reminded Americans in spectacular fashion that environmental crises are only accelerating in tandem with the country’s civil unrest and pandemic misery. Yet many climate activists anticipate environmental issues moving to intersect with racial justice in the historic nomination of Kamala Harris. They expect the Californian to play a key role with a vice-presidential portfolio likely to be dominated by a national reconstruction strategy that takes the climate crisis head-on.
A group of climate advocates led by Evergreen Action, an advocacy group founded by former staffers of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s presidential campaign, hosted a pre-convention virtual briefing Monday to discuss the Harris selection and the challenges facing a possible Biden administration.
Harris has been especially active on the climate front this year, teaming up with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Climate Equity Act introduced earlier this month. The bill would create an Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability within the Office of Management and Budget to score legislation on impacts on low-income and people of color. The office would ensure that equity standards inform proposals and incorporate residents’ views on the remedies for climate threats and other environmental hazards in their communities.
“It is impossible to separate out the environmental outcomes from the social circumstances from which they arise and to which they contribute,” said Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy for Data for Progress, a progressive think tank. He added that Harris would be well positioned to address the “intertwining” of climate and racial-injustice issues.
Harris has also joined forces with Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Cory Booker of New Jersey to offer the Environmental Justice for All Act, which would protect communities already suffering from disparate air, water, and other pollution impacts. It would also provide grant funding to guarantee equal access to parks and other outdoor environments.
In her own run for the presidential nomination, Harris signaled a strong interest in environmental justice, calling on the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute fossil fuel companies. “There has been a lot of hay made that she didn’t go after Exxon, but, you know who she went after? She went after Chevron, BP, and the people who created the oil spill in Santa Barbara,” said Leah Stokes, an assistant professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, who specializes in environmental policy.
Harris’s ties to Ocasio-Cortez in particular should help shore up the Democratic ticket’s credibility on climate and environmental justice. Joe Biden has proposed a $2 trillion climate plan anchored by a pledge to pursue a 100 percent clean-energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050 and to more vigorously assist communities like Flint, Michigan, and Harlan County, Kentucky, whose drinking water sources have been poisoned.
