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Vice President Kamala Harris, who once threatened to bring criminal charges against Big Oil during her 2019 White House campaign, is now praising the industry for its high production levels. Her notable shift in support for domestic oil and gas production is one of several policy reversals since she replaced President Biden on the 2024 Democratic ticket.
“You should be really prepared to look at a serious fine or be charged with a crime,” Harris told a town hall attendee in South Carolina in November 2019, when asked whether she would investigate the role of oil companies in climate change.
As a senator from California, Harris accused oil companies of engaging in a cover-up, comparing them to tobacco companies. “And, not unlike the tobacco companies, after years — ’cause they’d done the research — they knew the harm that their product was causing,” Harris said at the event, according to CNN. “They were making so much money that they kept that secret — same thing with these big oil companies.” She added, “And they need to pay the price. So yes is the answer.”
CNN found more than a dozen references to “prosecuting Big Oil” in Harris’ 2020 campaign materials, with climate change being the main driver. In an Iowa campaign stop in 2019, Harris reiterated, “They’ve known for a long time what they’ve been doing – that is destroying this God-given planet,” again drawing a parallel between Big Oil and Big Tobacco.
During her 2020 campaign, Harris also falsely claimed to have “sued” ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company, during her time as California Attorney General. While she did open an investigation into ExxonMobil over allegations of misleading the public and shareholders about climate change, she never filed a lawsuit.
Harris’ tough rhetoric on oil aligned with other far-left energy policies she endorsed in 2019, including support for the Green New Deal, banning fracking, and phasing out gasoline-powered cars. She has since walked back all of those positions in her current presidential bid.
“We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over-rely on foreign oil,” Harris said at a campaign event in Philadelphia last month.
Her campaign website also touts the “record energy production” from the oil and gas industries under the Harris-Biden administration, claiming it as part of their commitment to “ensuring America’s energy security and independence.”
However, experts attribute the recent surge in U.S. oil production more to improved drilling technology and market forces than to Harris-Biden administration policies. While her website no longer mentions prosecuting Big Oil, Harris does highlight “tens of millions in settlements” from oil companies during her tenure as California AG and vaguely promises to “hold polluters accountable.”
